'INDEPENDENCE' EXTENDED PRESS RELEASE
Independence
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
“A coming-of-age story… Fully realized characters who surprise, provoke, and trouble the mind long after the show is over.” – The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles, CA. May 10, 2014—Veteran professional actor and acclaimed acting coach Vernée Watson makes her directorial debut at the 2014 Hollywood Fringe Festival with INDEPENDENCE, a wise, funny, and affecting family drama from Tony- and Pulitzer-nominated playwright Lee Blessing. The production features the talents of actors Lauren Benge, Kat Muldoon, Shelley Phillips, and Jenny Simpson and opens June 6 at The Lounge Theatre.
INDEPENDENCE premiered in 1984 to critical and popular acclaim at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. The dysfunctional Briggs family of small town Independence, Iowa is reunited when estranged eldest daughter Kess returns home at the bequest of middle daughter Jo, who has found herself at a breaking point in her ability to handle the mental instability of their mother, Evelyn. Along with youngest sister, Sherry, who is desperate to escape the family for good, the three Briggs sisters must decide whether to pursue their own personal freedom at the cost of destroying their mother’s life.
Kat Muldoon, a recent graduate of Stanford University and an award-winning playwright and screenwriter, and Jenny Simpson, a Texas native with a background in independent film, inhabit the roles of Kess and Jo, respectively, and also co-produced the show. “Jenny and I were introduced to the material over a year ago and were captivated by it,” Muldoon explains. “Producing it has been a labor of love.” Simpson agrees: “I couldn’t step away; I had to tell this story. It’s just such great writing. As an actress, it’s a gift to have so much to work with—to get to unpack the depth contained in every sentence.”
“The moral ground keeps shifting underneath the characters’ feet,” Muldoon continues. “Blessing is a master of shades of gray. At the start of the play, Kess and Jo each feel strongly that she knows what’s best for Evelyn; slowly, we watch that moral certainty unravel. The end still sends shivers down my spine. I did not anticipate just how quietly tragic and almost sinister it would be.”
Muldoon and Simpson sought out industry veteran Vernée Watson to direct. Watson is an accomplished professional actor with an ongoing forty-five year career in film and television, best known for playing Will Smith’s mother on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” She is also a respected acting coach who owns and operates a professional school for youth talent. INDEPENDENCE marks her directorial debut. Watson calls the experience “humbling and exciting… Steering the uniquely talented actors toward fulfillment of their characters and watching it develop its own life and pulse is a real joy.”
“[Watson] has a keen eye,” says Simpson. “She knows exactly what she is looking for and how she wants to tell this story. It has been a pleasure collaborating with her.” Adds Muldoon: “Vernée has complemented our instincts with her own. She knows how to keep the story moving forward, cutting out all the melodrama, so that it’s passionate, energetic, and even, at times, hilarious.”
Lauren Benge provides much of that comic relief as youngest sister Sherry, who vibrates with sexual brazenness and vivacity as she reels off Blessing’s wicked one-liners. Muldoon explains, “A lot of actresses can do teenage snark. Lauren is the rare actress who can be very funny but who also can access the profound pain and loss that underlie Sherry’s behavior.”
Shelley Phillips takes on the daunting challenge of Evelyn. “This is a powerhouse role,” says Muldoon. “We knew if we couldn’t find Mom, we didn’t have a play. And Shelley Phillips just astounded us. Evelyn terrorizes her children but also earns their devotion. She straddles this inexplicable fine line between compassion and brutality, and Shelley walks it with grace.”
“I’ve found the role to be challenging, exhilarating, and ultimately healing,” Phillips says. “I myself hail from a long line of interesting women, both stable and unstable. To be able to wear Evelyn’s coat and view life from such a deep place of loneliness and fear is a gift of a very different perspective. Lee Blessing has truly captured the insecurities, devotions, and sacrifices of the female condition.”
“Our family’s love is a love that we desperately need,” says Benge. “But it also destroys us.” Muldoon concurs: “It’s inherently paradoxical, and that’s fascinating to explore.”
Watson concludes, “It is a true blessing to be ‘directly’ involved in striving to give justice to this powerful play. May we complete the task successfully.”
INDEPENDENCE by Lee Blessing
Directed by Vernée Watson
The Lounge Theatre
6201 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90038
Friday, June 6 at 8:00 PM
Saturday, June 14 at 6:00 PM
Thursday, June 19 at 8:00 PM
Friday, June 20 at 6:00 PM
Sunday, June 22 at 6:00 PM
Wednesday, June 25 at 8:00 PM
Saturday, June 28 at 8:00 PM
Tickets $15 General Admission / Available at http://hff14.org/1588
Running time 87 minutes, no intermission
Contact: Kat Muldoon
Phone: 510-919-1755
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://hff14.org/1588
