(CAPE MAY, NJ) -- As the award-winning Equity professional East Lynne Theater Company prepares for its upcoming 41st summer/fall production season in Cape May, NJ, it continues to produce virtual events for its YouTube Channel, most of which will be free and can be viewed any time during a limited run in the comfort of one’s home. ELTC strongly recommends connecting the computer to the flat screen TV with an HDMI cable so the show can be seen on a larger screen with better sound. Some televisions have easy access to YouTube, in which case, most of ELTC's virtual shows can be viewed directly on the "big screen."
Up first, is Stephanie Garrett reading a speech by Ida B. Wells (1862 – 1931), "Lynching, Our National Crime," which was filmed at the Cape May Presbyterian Church, where ELTC usually performs. Wells delivered this speech at the National Negro Conference (forerunner to the NAACP) in New York City in the spring of 1909. It premieres on Thursday, January 28 at 8:00 PM EST and is available anytime through Sunday, February 28 at 11:59 PM. Direct link for viewing is https://tinyurl.com/ELTC-IDABWELLS. For those who have easy access to YouTube on their flat screen television, go to East Lynne Theater’s channel directly. This reading offered for free, but ELTC suggests donations be made to the NAACP.
Next up is "Get Happy! A Salute to Judy Garland" created by and starring Jenna Pastuszek. Those who saw Pastuzek perform at ELTC's 2019 gala are still talking about it. She doesn't impersonate Garland, but performs classics and forgotten gems performed by this beloved singer. "Get Happy" premieres on Thursday, February 25 at 8:00 PM EST, with 8:00 PM shows also on February 26, 27, and 28. Tickets are $15 and will be available once the show has been uploaded to ELTC's YouTube page, which should be by February 18. Ticket purchasers receive a ticket to the show via e-mail, and a button to hit near performance time that will take you to the show. Buyers have 24 hours to see the show, and may pause and even stop the show and return later.
A reading of "Something to Vote For" directed by Gayle Stahlhuth, premieres on Thursday, March 18 at 8:00 PM EST and will be available anytime for free through Sunday, March 21. This 50-minute play with a cast of 10 was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) in 1911, and is one of a handful of American Suffrage plays still in existence. Funding is from the "Suffrage Event Grant" from the NJ Council for the Humanities and the New Jersey Theatre Alliance's "Stages Festival."
There are two more readings, with dates-to-be-determined, each one filmed with couples who have been sequestering together. Veronique Hurley and Mat Labotka are in "Enemies" written by Neith Boyce and Hutchins Hapgood, who first performed their own one-act in 1916 as part of the first plays produced by the Provincetown Players in NYC. James Rana is directing. Mark Edward Lang and Alison J. Murphy are reading a two-hander version of Franz Molnar's "The Guardsman" written by Lang. These two starred in ELTC's full-length production in 2008 directed by Karen Case Cook.
The fully-produced "Nothing Matters" starring James Rana and Gayle Stahlhuth, rehearsed and filmed last fall, will be available for a three-week run in April, exact dates yet to be determined, for a $15 ticket.
In June, ELTC hopes to begin its summer/fall season, live, with a world premiere one-person show, "Dorothy Parker: A Certain Woman," starring Suzanne Dawson, followed by four more mainstage productions including shows intended for 2020: "Possessing Harriet" (NJ Premiere), "Born Yesterday," our NBC radio-style "Sherlock Holmes' Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle," and "Christmas with Harte and O. Henry," along with a concert by Barbara Quintiliani, a silent film with live organ accompaniment, and our popular "Tales of the Victorians."
