Emerson Theater Collaborative Announces Production of Chestina Vanessa Poulson

 

August 13, 2010, Mystic, CT.  Because of the success of Chestina Vanessa Poulson (CVP) in May, Emerson Theater Collaborative (ETC) is remounting the play as a dinner theater this August in Mystic.  Chestina Vanessa Poulson is a new play written by local playwright, Melanie Greenhouse, a resident of Noank, CT. Chestina Vanessa Poulson is the story of a post holocaust family re-settling in a remote corner of the Eastern Shore of Virginia and Maryland. Told in the voice of Chessie, an African American woman who comes to work for the Ehrenwald family, the piece is non-fiction and a memoir of the author’s life with Chessie.  Opening in 1952, the play is a portrayal of two cultures—how each experiences and transcends the isolation of race and ethnicity in a segregated environment.

Ms. Greenhouse shares some thoughts on why she wrote the play: 

“I’d been teaching the ‘persona poem’ at a writer's retreat then later, to inner city kids at the Writer’s Block in New London. They were putting together a production about Hurricane Katrina victims, trying to imagine the disaster from the points of view of those who were displaced. I decided to try that same technique on my family’s story, writing it from the perspective of Chessie, the black woman who came to work for my displaced Jewish immigrant parents in the 1950’s. I began with a few short poems in my poetry-writing group and was encouraged to continue.

Chessie was and remains a strong presence in my life. We talk on a regular basis, so her colorful expressions and cadences are imprinted in my brain. After I’d written a number of poems, I brought them to my playwriting group, the Writer’s Round Table, to hear how they sounded spoken by someone else. I was led to consider expanding the poems which morphed into a monodrama, then into a two-act play with assorted characters and a gospel choir thrown in for good measure.”

 “With a few decades to process and ponder what Chessie and my family endured, I took all those complex interactions and distilled them into dramas I didn’t need to make up. CVP was written in 2005 -2006, a period when my personal life was in upheaval. I needed to return to a time when there was relative stability in my life and a nurturer who was Chessie. The act of writing the play became my lifeboat. The supremely gifted Camilla Ross (who I’d met at the Writer’s Block) read the role of Chessie at a concert reading in 2007. Soon after, she launched the Emerson Theater Collaborative. A few years later, she approached me about mounting a full production of CVP.”

Andrea Adresakis directs the Emerson Theater Collaborative’s production of Chestina Vanessa Poulson that runs August 13 - 15 at Union Baptist Church in Mystic, CT. More information can be found at www.EmersonTheaterCollaborative.org.

 Emerson Theater Collaborative’s mission is to serve youth, under-represented communities and artists with an emphasis on diversity, by producing innovative and exhilarating theater in Southeastern Connecticut.  ETC explores timely themes and issues through new, original works and modern theatrical classics. We develop and nurture both emerging and professional artists, and collaborate with the Emerson College network of alumni and students.  Our goals include reaching inner city youth through educational theatrical programming and to support our local communities by providing free admission to our performances to low-income families, and donating profits to humanitarian causes.

 Melanie Greenhouse is the author of Chestina Vanessa Poulson and lives and writes on the outskirts of Noank village, a place that inspired her to write, produce, and direct two plays as well as a CD containing music from her plays. From 1994 to 2004, she coordinated the Arts Café‑Mystic, an award-winning music and literary series that takes place at the Mystic Art Center. Her interviews of critically acclaimed writers have appeared in local papers since 2001. She is the only child of Czech refugees who immigrated to a remote comer of Virginia in the late 1940's.   Marriage, parenthood, nature, and cultural pluralism are some of the themes that emerge in her poetry and in her plays. The Connecticut Commission on the Arts named her a "Distinguished Advocate of the Arts" in March 2003.  Currently, she is developing a program that uses poetry as a means of enhancing memory and cognition in senior citizens.  "Gray Dawn Breaking" has become a weekly feature at two assisted living communities in the area.  She is proud (& a little intimidated) to belong to the Writer's Round Table, an auspicious group of talented playwrights whose works have earned fame and notoriety.

Andrea Andresakis directs Chestina Vanessa Poulson.  Some of Ms. Andresakis’s career highlights include directing in NYC, nationally and internationally. She was the Associate Artistic Director of American Playwrights Theater, NYC, and Assistant Director to Jacques d’Amboise.  She is also an actress and dancer and performed at Lincoln Center, Broadway, Radio City Music Hall and New York City Center.  She is a graduate of the High School of Performing Arts and has appeared in both the film and television show of FAME.  Other New York City credits include: Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451; Nellie (about Nellie Bly); Lee Blessing’s Down the Road; A Belly Dancer’s Story; Wait Until Dark; Neil Simon’s Star Spangled Girl at Playwrights Horizons; The Little Prince at the Merkin Concert Hall and National Tour; a workshop of Christopher (about Christopher Columbus) by Broadway composer Earl Wilson. She was the Associate Artistic Director of the American Playwrights’ Theatre where she also directed several plays. Tours include the original Barber of Seville by Beaumarchais and Any Dream Will Do, an Andrew Lloyd Webber review. Regional productions include: the East Coast premiere of The Marvelous Wonderettes; Crimes of the Heart; Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; Big River; Secret Garden; The Fantasticks; Iolanthe; Princess Ida; The Sorcerer; The Gondoliers and Fame at the Barrington Stage Company. In 2009 she was the Associate Director and Choreographer on the revival of Michael Bennett’s Ballroom for Broadway at the Center in Virginia. Teaching credits include SUNY, Purchase; CUNY, Queens College; The National Dance Institute and The Gateway Playhouse. Learn more about Ms. Andresakis at www.andresakis.com

Joshua Lee Ramos (Assistant Director) is a native of Hartford, CT and a graduate of University of Hartford where he received a BA in Drama and Film.  In 2008 he made his professional theatre directorial debut with Princebury Productions directing A. R. Gurney's “Love Letters” in Massachusetts. He also did the lighting design for that show that would express the changes in time and compliment the change in emotions. The show earned him critical praise for these elements as well as his direction. Joshua brought the revival of Maria Irene Fornes' "The Conduct of Life" to the Off-Broadway June Havoc Theatre as part of the Midtown International Theatre Festival in summer of 2008 as the director, lighting designer and sound designer. Additional regional professional credits include working as a director for "New Works New Britain Theatre Festival," as well as having been a lighting designer for CONNetic Dance in Hartford and for their regional tour.  For his first show of 2010 he directed "Cinderella Eats Rice and Beans" for the Hartford Children's Theatre. Most recently reunited with the Emerson Theatre Collaborative (etc.) as stage manager for “Harriet2,” and prior to that, as director for Bill Corbett’s and Kira Obolensky's "Hate Mail." He first worked with etc as director of a very successful run of Rebecca Gilman's "Spinning into Butter" for etc. in Fall 2009.  He is most thankful to Camilla Ross and Andrea Adresakis and everyone involved with etc., and is please to be working on his fourth show with etc as Assistant Director.  For more on Ramos visit www.joshualeeramos.webs.com

THE CAST:

Camilla Ross (Chestina/Chessie).  Ms. Ross is the current president and founder of the Emerson Theater Collaborative, and a graduate of Emerson College in Boston. Camilla spent time studying with the Actor’s Workshop of Boston.  Drawing on over 20 years of theatrical experience, ranging from commercials to regional theater, Camilla is leading and shaping ETC from the ground up as one of the first professional theaters in southeastern Connecticut.  She is the theatrical advisor and acting coach for the SPAG Players at Three Rivers Community College in Norwich, CT. She is a current board and choral member with the Connecticut Lyric Opera of New London. Camilla is a former board member and acting instructor for the Writer’s Block, Ink of New London, CT. Camilla is currently a part-time business faculty member of the Three Rivers Community College, teaching a variety of business courses. She currently sits on the Emerson Alumni Board, as one of the co-presidents of the CT Chapter. As an actress, she was seen most recently in John Patrick Shanley’s play “Doubt,” playing the role of Mrs. Mueller, and as Harriet Tubman in Lisa Giordano’s “Harriet Tubman’s Dream.”

Zoe Hartman (Melanie).  Ms. Hartman has worked on two previous productions with Emerson Theater Collaborative.  She was stage manager for “Spinning Into Butter” and assistant stage manager for “Picasso at the Lapin Agile.”  Ms. Hartman has the lead role in the independent feature film “Shadows Never Vanish” which premieres at the SENE Film Festival in April 2010.  In addition, she acts in the upcoming Happy Madison film, “Grown Ups.” She has acted in the films: “Revolutionary Road,” “Profile” and  “The Big Bad Swim” as well as the TV miniseries, “The Bronx is Burning,” and TV show, “In Search Of.”  Ms. Hartman was the Set Dresser for the film “Crippled Creek” and has worked as a Production Assistant on two independent feature films. Ms. Hartman is currently the VJ for CurlyGrrlz Skateboards CGzTV.  She is in her senior year at Saint Bernard High School and plans to major in Theater in college.

Aziza Clayton (Chorus).  Ms. Clayton has had a love of music since childhood and has sung in many groups and performed in numerous productions with local churches.  Some of her theatrical experience includes parts in the plays, “He is Risen,” and “Born Again Christmas Play” in 2009 and 2008.  She has sung on the CD “Altar of Heaven” by Aracelis Vazquez, with the worship team, Women of Destiny, with In the Spirit Ministries, and with the United Ensemble Choir at Johnson & Wales University.   Ms. Clayton is an entrepreneur and owner of ZoëVillage, a consulting firm specializing in resource development for non-profit organizations.  She is married to Quincy Clayton and has a two-year-old daughter Quincie-Jade Clayton.  Ms. Clayton is a long-time active member of her church, Born Again Outreach Ministry in Groton, CT where she sings on the praise and worship team and in the New Beginnings Chorale.

Krystal A. Livingston (Chorus). Since her early youth, Ms. Livingston has been acting and singing. Recently, Krystal has performed in: Four Women, a touring Gospel stage play; Die Laughing, a comedy, which played at the world famous Times Square Comedy Club (formally The Laugh Factory); Treat Me Not to Leave You and A Piece of Me, both touring inspirational plays. In 2006, the University of New Haven Music Department hired Krystal as an Adjunct Faculty Member to teach Gospel Music Performance. While in college, Krystal started the University of New Haven Gospel Choir and served as Director/President from 1999-2001. From 1997-1998, as a freshman in college, she became the Student Director for the University of New Haven Harmonies, an acapella group. In 1996, she co-wrote and co-directed a musical based on the book of Job, He’ll Make It Alright.  She performed with Words of Life Choir for numerous years and directed the Cardinal Spellman High School Gospel Choir during her senior year in high school.  She became a member of the Real Life Theater drama ministry in 1994, performing in A Christ-mass Story, I See You See Me, along with other skits and dramatic pieces. In May 2007, Krystal obtained her Masters Degree in National Security & Public Safety from the University of New Haven, and she is now the Associate Director of Admissions & Coordinator of Multicultural Admissions for Connecticut College.   She is currently a resident of New London, Connecticut and a member of New Life Christian Fellowship, where Pastors Johnny & Sharon Burns preside.  Krystal is excited to be a part of the CVP cast and dedicates her performances to her family & her “inner circle” of friends.  Romans 8:28…

Tricia Riddick (Chorus).  Tricia has performed in a variety of theater productions.  To name a few, she has played the wife in “Rashomon”, Hypolita in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, and Madame Parole in “My Three Angles”.  Though truly passionate about acting, Tricia began her career as a theater “minor” in college.  She obtained her Bachelors Degree in the Science of Business Economics and just one year later, earned her Masters in Business Administration. Currently, Tricia works in finance for a global company, but looks forward to transitioning into acting full time. 

Sandra Walker (Chorus). Sandra Walker was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland.  She attended Eastern High School where she was always drawn to her passion of singing in chorus class.  She was accepted into the All City Choir and All State Choir.   She moved to Connecticut in 1996, with her 16-year-old daughter, Natasha.   Sandra became a member of the New Life Fellowship Church in Ledyard, CT where her Pastors are Johnny, and Sharon Burns. She met her husband of 8 years, Kelly Walker, at the church where he is the Sound Technician.  Sandra has been a member of the New Life Restoration Choir for 14-years and a member of the Praise and Worship Team for 13 years.  She was a backup singer for Josette Ables first CD, “My Song of Worship”, which was released in 2007.  She has been singing back up for Josette at various engagements from New London, CT to Boston, MA, and also, was background singer for D’Williams Gospel Explosion 2009.  Sandra is making her acting début in Chestina Vanessa Poulson.

Christopher Lee Williams (Chorus).  Mr. Williams loves to sing and is currently working with producer Troy Oliver on a CD of R&B love songs inspired by Mr. Williams’ remarkable wife.  He is an ordained minister and loves to preach the Bible, and is a teacher and loves teaching Mathematics to his students. Additionally, Mr. Williams has modeled professionally for 10 years.  As a sports buff and athlete, Mr. Williams played with several Canadian Football teams and also, excelled in track and field.  He enjoys being a mentor to youth and motivating others to reach their full potential.  He is the proud father of two children:  Genesis Jewel and Valentino Christopher.  Mr. Williams “hit the lottery” with his friends and family, and is living his dream.

Key Dates and Information

What:  Emerson Theatre Collaborative’s production of Chestina Vanessa Poulson.

When:  August 13 & 14, 2010,  Dinner at 7:00 PM, Show at 8:00 PM and August 15, 2010, Dinner at 3:00 PM, Show at 4:00 PM.

Where:  Union Baptist Church, 119 High St., Mystic, CT

How:  Tickets are $35 and can be obtained by calling 860-705-9711.  Additional information is available at www.EmersonTheaterCollaborative.org.