Marie Antoinette: The Color of Flesh was Earl Production’s inaugural theatrical production. It tells the true story of the friendship between Marie Antoinette and her portraitist, Madame Vigee le Brun, and the fictionalized love triangle between them and the Comte Alexis de Ligne. Through the lens of these intertwined relationships, The Color of Flesh explores how personal allegiances can affect the world stage, and vice versa. The play spans 20 years, from the early days of Marie Antoinette’s reign to a powerful scene in her jail cell, weeks away from execution as one of the villains of the French Revolution.
The Color of Flesh was initially produced at the award-winning New Jersey Repertory Company to rave reviews in 2003 and had two productions in Spain in 2007, one in Spanish translation and the other in Basque. Readings of the play have starred such diverse and high-caliber talent as Julia Roberts, Elisabeth Shue and Dustin Hoffman.
The New York City premiere of the play was mounted by Earl Productions in the Spring of 2007, and played to sold out houses and rave reviews in the New York Times among others. That production led to the publication of the play by Dramatists Play Service and subsequent productions at the Caldwell Studio Theatre in Florida and another production in Melbourne, Australia. Earl Productions LLC remounted the original production at St. Luke's Theatre on West 46th Street in Summer 2008.
Selected reviews:
"" - Aaron Riccio, TimeOut New York
“Only three characters inhabit Marie Antoinette: The Color of Flesh, but this impeccably acted play … has the sweep of a historical novel… the three actors are never less than enthralling.” - Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times
“history made intriguing and delicious… if history lessons were all like this, no one would ever cut class” - Jill Jichetti, Off-Off-Online
“…reaches the heights of sophistication in both theme and execution…The gruesome spectacle of the French Revolution unfolds in the background of the domestic revelations, creating a heart-breaking and absorbing counterpoint as the inevitable historical conclusion looms. Joel Gross’s clever script is more than adequately supported by the dexterous direction of Robert Kalfin. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that he has the superior talents of four gifted actors at his disposal…Set designer Kevin Judge uses the small space to its full advantage, with the help of Paul Hudson’s masterful lighting, both of which set off T. Michael Hall’s sumptuous costumes to perfection.” – Rebecca Jones, ShowBusiness Weekly
“Gross' writing demonstrates a happy sophistication that provides a full-length portrait of the monarch that ranges from disingenuous youth to disillusion and a date with the guillotine…the evening belongs, as it should, to Jones' Toinette in an intelligently nuanced performance that is memorably moving. And in this simple staging, T. Michael Hall's costumes look particularly resplendent.” – Karl Levett, Backstage Pick of the Week
“… a serious marriage of history and drama…The play brilliantly illuminates human nature, the inherent social issues in late-18th century France, and the terrible build to the French Revolution…the acting is sterling, and the chemistry of the cast is evident...” – Deirdre Donovan, TheatreScene.net
“Ives does her femme fatale thing quite well...Jones plays Marie with a wonderful and frightening woman-child innocence; it's a difficult role to make both probable and sympathetic…but Jones pulls it off, cooing her lines and occasionally trying for a grandeur that Marie can't quite manage. She's an adorable failure in Jones' hands” – Sam Thielman, Variety
To purchase the play: http://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=3885
For more information about Elisabeth Vigee le Brun and to see her portraits of Marie Antoinette:
http://www.batguano.com/
Natalie Mosco's play follows the remarkable life of the celebrated American painter Georgia O'Keeffe. One of the most important artists of the 20th Century, O'Keeffe was once torn between a career as a painter or musician and seemed to strike a balance between the two by infusing her painting with what she termed "visual music." As Arthur Stieglitz's model, muse and lover (and later wife), she became the widely known subject of a long series of photographs that were part of his artistic legacy. But it was only after Stieglitz's death that she was finally free to immerse herself in nature once again, the source that had truly defined her paintings and offered her 99-year life its greatest meaning. Playwright and actress Natalie Mosco has structured A Brush With Georgia O'Keeffe in a way that captures O'Keeffe's abstract vision. By engaging the use of several different rhythmic styles the playwright brings the same aesthetic inherent in O'Keeffe's painting into a drama about her life.
A Brush With Georgia O'Keeffe was mounted by the WorkShop Theatre Company in the Spring of 2008, and the sold out production was transferred by Earl Productions LLC, in association with Edmund Gaynes and Julia Beardlesy, to St. Luke's Theatre on West 46th Street June 21st, 2008. The successful run led to a reading of the play with the full artistic company at the Smithsonian American Art Museum November 1st as a part of their exhibit "Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adadms: Natural Affinities."
Selected reviews:
"Now comes the eager, animated playwright-actress Natalie Mosco tackling Georgia O'Keeffe, perhaps America's first female superstar painter… the artist’s essence best comes through is in the lighting design, by Paul Hudson, evoking O’Keeffe’s beloved desert landscapes, and projections by Marilys Ernst, providing gentle glimpses of her remarkable canvases, sometimes flinty and stark, sometimes lush and feminine, often representational yet entrancingly abstract" - Andy Webster, The New York Times
"…the magic behind the brush stroke… Mosco’s confidence and clear vision are impressive strengths when it comes to portraying an important female artist …Walters exudes clarity and self-possession…Roncetti is a playful chameleon who is entertaining to watch in all forms… the show’s other backdrop, a strip of blue sky with wispy clouds, is a stunningly simple evocation of space and limitlessness. Though obviously a screen on a stage, when the sky appears it seems to come into the fullness of being with O’Keeffe’s conception of it" - Maura Webster, Off-Off-Online
"… an elegant and poetic production, striving to be as graceful as the “visual music” O’Keeffe herself aspired to in her own work" - Andrea M. Meek, ShowBusiness Weekly
"…paints a lively and knowledgeable picture of a tenacious artist, seductive muse and moody recluse" - Diane Snyder, TimeOut New York
"The play portrays O’Keefe as an astute observer of her times, and as a devoted artist continuously channeling her raw energies into art … If love makes the world go round, it’s the love story of Stieglitz and O’Keefe that truly rounds out this play … Directed by Robert Kalfin, it gives us a clear-eyed view of the most distinguished American female artist of the twentieth century" - Deirdre Donovan, Theatrescene.net