THE HEIDI CHRONICLES premiered on Broadway in 1988 and won every major theatrical award, including the Pulitzer Prize, the Tony Award, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award and the Drama Desk Award.  Personal and provocative, this play keeps its audience laughing while it celebrates the power of the individual.

Wendy Wasserstein is the best-known female playwright of her generation, author of the plays Uncommon Women and Others, Isn’t It Romantic, The Sisters Rosensweig, Old Money, An American Daughter, and The Heidi Chronicles, for which she received a Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize, and of the books, Bachelor Girls and Shiksa Goddess. She was admired both for the warmth and the satirical cool of her writing; each of her plays and books captures an essence of the time, makes us laugh and leaves us wiser. Wendy Wasserstein was born on October 18, 1950, in Brooklyn, and died at the age of 55. Her daughter, Lucy Jane, lives in New York.

THE HEIDI CHRONICLES marks Amanda Sitton’s debut as a director, after many years as one of the most highly regarded actors in San Diego.  Ms. Sitton has won San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Awards for her acting for the past two years – for her work in San Diego Rep’s DOUBT and New Village Arts’ GOLDEN BOY.  A founding member of NVA’s Ensemble, she has appeared in the New Village Arts productions of THREE SISTERS, CRIMES OF THE HEART, SAILOR’S SONG, GOLDEN BOY, BE AGGRESSIVE and FOUR DOGS AND A BONE.

Leading the cast as the character Heidi is NVA’s Executive Artistic Director Kristianne Kurner.  “I’m thrilled to be sharing this role with our audiences twenty years after it was originally released.  It is such a gift to be able to look back, through Heidi’s experiences, and find that universal search we are all on for meaning and purpose in our lives.  Plus, it’s an amazing cast and creative team, lead by one of the theatre artists I respect the most, Amanda Sitton.”  Ms. Kurner last appeared on the NVA stage as Germaine in Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile and at Moxie Theatre as Dr. Whetstone in Mary Fengal Gail’s Drink Me.

Accompanying the action of the play with music will be the acclaimed San Diego performer Linda Libby.  Ms. Libby commented, “the play lives in an era of incredible music and I’m thrilled to be a reminder to those who knew this music first-hand and a messenger to those who discover this music through NVA’s production.  In a past life I played clubs and in bands and it’s wonderful to play guitar & piano again!”  This unique approach to the play will make HEIDI even more relevant to our contemporary audiences.

The rest of the cast consists of some of San Diego’s most popular actors, including Jacque Wilke as Heidi’s best friend Susan (last appeared in THE LAST CENTURY at Diversionary), NVA regular John DeCarlo as Heidi’s sometimes lover Scoop (with NVA: OFF THE GROUND, GOLDEN BOY, most recently MAN FROM NEBRASKA at Cygnet), Brian Mackey as Heidi’s fellow traveler (currently in LITTLE WOMEN at North Coast Rep), and in various other roles: NVA Ensemble member Amanda Morrow (BE AGGRESSIVE & SAILOR’S SONG), Kelly Iversen (WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF, Compass Theatre and THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED, Diversionary), Frances Regal (THE JOY LUCK CLUB, Asian American Rep) and Anthony Phifer (current MiraCosta College student).

The design team includes NVA resident designers Tim Wallace on set and sound and Bonnie Durben on props, with Jason Bieber creating the lighting and Renetta Lehman-Lloyd designing the costumes.”

As you can see from the above, this is going to be a very exciting production for NVA, and should produce, as my friend Eric Lotze likes to call it, “artistic whiplash”.  (it will be quite different from THE MAN WHO).

THE NEW FOUNDRY SPACE IS ALMOST COMPLETED!!!!

It may not look like much now, but the new space is going to be a great addition!  Here you see the new walls and a portion of one of the artist studios.

Thanks to the hard work of the folks at Lusardi Construction Company, our new Foundry space will be ready for the artists to move in on March 1st!  The new space consists of 7 new artist studios, the full costume storage and a small performances space that will be used for classes, rehearsals and smaller scale performances (including music, poetry and new plays).  It’s another great step forward for NVA.  We’ll be painting this weekend, so check with me or Alex if you have an hour or two to spare.

SEASON ANNOUNCEMENT PARTY

Please plan to join us on Friday, March 19 from 6-8 PM to celebrate the announcement of NVA’s Season 10!  It will be here at the theatre and we have a few good surprises in store.  I’ll be sending out an “official” invitation on Monday.

NVA’s SPRING GALA: NVA TAKES BROADWAY

Our fabulous spring gala will be on Saturday, May 22 at the new Sheraton in Carlsbad.  We have David Patrone and his band playing swing music (they even bring their own dancers to help lead the way), some great auction items and a very fun menu.  The theme is the “golden age” of Broadway, which basically means we get to dress in our vintage best and dance the night away.  There will even be hotel packages for those of you who would like to make a weekend out of it.  We are currently looking for sponsors for the event as well as items for both a silent and live auction.  If you have anything you can send our way, we would greatly appreciate it!

OTHER EVENTS AT NVA

On Sunday, March 7 at 7:30 PM, the blues harmonica legend James Harman will be recording a live CD here at NVA.  Tickets are $20-25.  It’s an unbelievable chance to see an artist of this caliber in a space like NVA.  I hope some of you are able to make it.

On Saturday, March 13 at 8 PM, Scott Paulson will be bringing his Silent Movie Night to NVA (aka the “not-so-silent movie night”).  Tickets are only $10 and it is a family friendly event.  He’s going to show a series of short silent films that have trains as part of the story to honor our location (including THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY).  Scott and his band will be providing all the sound and music effects, and there is audience participation included as well.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

To Daren Scott on Monday the 1st!  And to Joshua Johnson on March 16th!

I hope you can make it to THE MAN WHO this weekend, or to one of the other many events we have going on at NVA.  Have a great week!

Kristianne