reading of Kurt Weill - Lotte Lenya play by Angelo Parra

            Public readings of a 60-minute excerpt from a new play by award-winning playwright, Angelo Parra, based on the correspondence between composer Kurt Weill and actress Lotte Lenya (both Rockland residents), will be presented at Rockland Center for the Arts (ROCA) and at Penguin Repertory Theatre.  A brief talkback session will follow both readings. 

            The excerpt from the new play, with the working title of “Passing in the Night,” was created by Parra, a Chestnut Ridge resident, under an Individual Artists grant by the Arts Council of Rockland and with the cooperation of Penguin Rep Artistic Director Joe Brancato. 

            Kurt Weill wrote the music for “Threepenny Opera” and “One Touch of Venus,” among other major musical works.  Stage and screen actress Lotte Lenya performed extensively in Europe and in America, and was nominated for an Academy Award for “The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone.” 

            Weill and Lenya fled Germany during the rise of Nazism, and eventually settled in New City in Rockland County.  Along with famed local playwright Maxwell Anderson and others, they were instrumental in establishing Rockland Center for the Arts. 

            Angelo Parra is the author of the current, critically acclaimed Off-Broadway hit, “The Devil’s Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith." written in collaboration with, and directed by, Joe Brancato. 

            A playwriting and performing arts instructor at SUNY Rockland, Parra also is the author of “Playwriting for Dummies” and the winner of two New York Foundation for the Arts Scriptwriting Fellowships. 

            The first of the developmental readings of the Weill-Lenya work in progress will take place on Sunday, Dec. 4, at 2 p.m. at ROCA in West Nyack.  The reading features Rocklander Judy Stadt as Lenya and Westchester County actor Hugh Scully as Weill. 

            Due to the recent snow storm and power outage, the Penguin Rep-hosted reading is being rescheduled for sometime January (date to be determined).  The readings are free and open to the public.  Because seating is limited, reservations, on a first-come-first-served basis, are recommended. 

            For reservations, send an email to playrite@optonline.net, stating 1. your name, 2. phone number, 3. which reading you want, and 4. how many reservations you need. 

            For directions: to ROCA go to www.rocklandartclasses.com/contact-us/directions; to Penguin Rep go to www.penguinrep.org/penguin/contact.html.