INDEPENDENCE ANNOUNCES ENCORE PERFORMANCE
Independence
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
LA Weekly says “GO!” — One of “Seven Shows to See” at the 2014 Hollywood Fringe Festival:
“This is a striking revival of Lee Blessing’s 1984 drama… These characters are complex, beckoning, and masterfully sketched by Blessing, and the performances are outstanding under Vernée Watson’s exacting direction.”
Los Angeles, CA. July 3, 2014 — After a successful seven show run at the 2014 Hollywood Fringe Festival, Vernée Watson’s acclaimed production of INDEPENDENCE has received the Festival’s Encore! Producers’ Award and will extend for a single additional performance on Sunday, July 13 at 7:00 PM at the Lounge Theatre in Hollywood.
Performer and co-producer Kat Muldoon calls the award “an honor and a wonderful opportunity. Thus far, the response to our show has been incredible; we never expected such an outpouring of support from the community. We are elated to share this beautiful story with one more audience.”
ABOUT THE SHOW:
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 American playwright Lee Blessing. The production features the talents of actors Lauren Benge, Kat Muldoon, Shelley Phillips, and Jenny Simpson and opened 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.
Director Vernée Watson is an accomplished professional actor with an ongoing forty-five year career in the industry and over 140 credits in film and television. She is best known for playing Verna Jean on Welcome Back Kotter and Will Smith’s mother on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Watson is also a highly respected acting coach. She owns and operates a professional acting school for youth talent and works with actors of all ages through workshops, seminars, and private coaching. INDEPENDENCE marks her directorial debut.
INDEPENDENCE by Lee Blessing
Directed by Vernée Watson
SPECIAL ENCORE PERFORMANCE:
Sunday, July 13 at 7:00 PM
The Lounge Theatre
6201 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90038
Tickets $15 General Admission / Available at https://www.theencoreawards.com/projects/1588
Running time 87 minutes, no intermission
Publicist: Anita J. Lee
Phone: 818.416.1628
Email: [email protected]
URL: https://www.theencoreawards.com/projects/1588
