"Paris 1890 - Unlaced!" returns Christmas week at Ventfort Hall
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| Performances are December 26, 27, 29 and 31 at 4 pm and December 28 and 30 at 7:30 pm. |
Executive Director Jeffrey Folmer says, “Ventfort Hall is open year-round, and bringing our hit shows back allows many who are tied up in the summer tourism season a second chance to see superior-quality original theater in a fantastic space. We have many events during our busy ‘Home for the Holidays’ and we often sell out shows!”
Actress Anne Undeland portrays five different women in this one-hour comedic mystery that takes a slightly risqué yet poignant glimpse into Parisian society of the Gilded Age, or Belle Époque. It is the fabulous demi-monde world of the courtesan that is explored through farce, laughs and naughty innuendo, but it also delves deep into the hearts of the women involved, ultimately scrutinizing the social climate of the time.
The mystery unfolds through the five characters: “Juliette,” a harried contemporary Gilded Age museum director; “La Crème,” an infamous Parisian courtesan; “Hettie,” the wife of La Crème’s benefactor; “La Chapellier,” a motor-mouth milliner; “Gertrude,” an Innocent-Abroad American; and “The Virgin,” a flash-in-the-pan celebrity of the Montmartre nightclub scene – singer, dancer, aspiring courtesan. In Citizen Kane style, as the audience hears from each successive character, they come closer and closer to solving the mystery.
Playwright Juliane Hiam was commissioned by Ventfort Hall to do the historical research and write the piece. According to Folmer, Hiam “…expertly weaves our non-profit mission to teach people about the Gilded Age into a work that both engages and entertains. The idea of educating while having fun is ‘serious business’ for us, and yes, the pun is intended!”
Hiam was one of the youngest screenwriters in Hollywood to also direct her first feature film. At 21, she optioned her first script Dead Silence, then directed it on location here in the Berkshires starring Danny Aiello, Sally Kirkland and Maureen Stapleton. Hiam won several film festival awards and eventually returned to her native Berkshires to write stage plays including productions at the Metropolitan Playhouse in New York City, Shakespeare and Company, Mass MoCA, and the Norman Rockwell Museum, and to serve as writer-in-residence at Kidspace, Mass MoCA. Her humor column “The World According to Jacoozi” was syndicated nationally with a circulation of over a million in newspapers such as the LA Daily News and its affiliates and the Berkshire Eagle.
Having directed the show this summer, Sarah Taylor is being flown in from Chicago for this holiday production. She previously directed the very popular Morgan O’Yuki, Geisha of the Gilded Age at Ventfort Hall. She has been a company member at Shakespeare & Company since 1998 where she also worked with their Education Program as a director, teacher and choreographer. Her acting credits include numerous roles at Shakespeare & Company, the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Worcester Foothills Theatre, Coast-to-Coast Theatre and others. She has also worked as a director, teacher and actor with the education programs at Merrimack Repertory Theatre’s Young Artists at Play, The Orlando Shakespeare Festival, Once Upon a Time and the Play Ground Children’s Theatre. She received her MFA from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.
Anne Undeland has appeared on stages along the east coast for the last 15 years, most notably in the one-woman shows “The Belle of Amherst”, “Xingu” and “Fanny Kemble’s Lenox Address” all in previous seasons at Ventfort Hall. She trained at Shakespeare and Company and has also performed with Mixed Company, Riggs Theatre 37, Stageworks, Castle Hill Theater, Barrington Stage, Capitol Rep., and made her debut in New York City this past January at the Metropolitan Playhouse. She is also a recurring voice in BBC Radio plays by Gregory Whitehead.
Set designer Carl Sprague has designed sets for almost every theater venue in the Berkshires as well as being a highly respected art director and production designer for feature films. His feature film credits include The Age of Innocence, The Paper, State & Main, Spartan, In Dreams, Before & After, Mona Lisa Smile, The Love Letter, and Amistad. As Art Director for The Royal Tennenbaums he received an Art Director’s Guild nomination. As a production designer his credits include the films Satie & Suzanne, Long Distance, Disappearances, Wedding Daze, Company Retreat, Another Harvest Moon, and Hatteras Hotel. His sets at Mass MoCA for the photographer Gregory Crewdson were featured in the New York Times.
Performances are December 26, 27, 29 and 31 at 4 pm and December 28 and 30 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $22 except for New Year’s Eve when a special post-performance reception with the actress is included in a $25 ticket price. Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more. Reservations are highly recommended as performances often sell out. For tickets and further information, call Ventfort Hall at (413) 637-3206 or visit www.GildedAge.org. Ventfort Hall is located at 104 Walker Street in Lenox.
