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Avila Productions, LLC, by special arrangement with Cherry Lane Theatre in association with Jack Sharkey, is thrilled to announce the world premiere of TERESA’S ECSTASY, written by Begonya Plaza and directed by Will Pomerantz.
A letter from our Executive Director.
"There's a little miracle about to be worked March 4th through April 1st at New York City's historic, magnificently renovated Cherry Lane Theatre in the form of a world premiere comedy/drama entitled TERESA'S ECSTASY, penned by and co-starring Begonya Plaza. She sharing the stage with Shawn Elliott and Linda Larkin, the esteemed Will Pomerantz at our directorial helm.
TERESA'S ECSTASY stands among some twenty theatrical endeavors I've been honored to help make possible since donning my "angel wings" in late middle-age, that once-pastime quickly evolved into a most gratifying second career, one which you've enthusiastically and graciously supported in recent years by means of your attendance and/or prayers and well-wishes.
This project bodes my most ambitious commitment to date, a beautiful, bold creation whose journey I've been proud to walk from developmental infancy to full fruition.
Beyond your valued presence as audiencemembers, I'm privileged to extend an invitation to join me as full participants in this worthy venture.
Kindly visit TERESA'S ECSTASY, there meeting our phenomenal cast and creative team, there likewise linking to our IndieGoGo wherein you may make a tax-deductible contribution, qualifying you as a full-fledged member of "Team Ecstasy," perks included, the ultimate benefits of which you'll realize, deeply so, in mind and heart when the curtain rises on a much-anticipated four-week run, your role as benefactor as vitally essential as the those played out on stage.
Additionally, please search "Avila Productions" and "like" our Facebook fanpage entitling you to updates and behind-the-scenes information as we progress.
With heartfelt wishes, I thank you in advance while welcoming you to the magic which is TERESA'S ECSTASY."
Most warmly...
Jack.
TERESA'S ECSTASY is a play that explores a mystical journey of change and defiance as opposing sexually charged forces look at love, politics and religion. The setting is Barcelona, where boundaries of culture, race and language dissolve as tolerance awakens within this provocative USA/Iberian triangle.
Preview performances will begin March 4 prior to an official press opening on March 11 at The Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce Street) in NYC. We invite you to join the team in producing this battle of the sexes and bringing our play to life – Off-Broadway in NYC.
"Shawn: “Teresa’s Ecstasy” stands as probing a psychological treatment as it is thoroughly engaging entertainment. In the reading experience one bonded instantaneously with each of the characters, actually projecting far forward envisioning a full production featuring “these very actors, please God.” The lead question the play poses for me is “When a man loves a woman unreservedly, how much of himself is he willing to sacrifice to ensure her happiness to the detriment of his own?” What touched me throughout was the consistently limitless depth to which Andres worships Carlotta and the absolute extremes he’ll employ in an effort to win her back despite, in truth, never having lost her… not really. I look forward to Teresa’s Ecstasy’s eventual fully-staged realization, one in which the visual artistic imagery can only beautifully complement the magnificence of the words we heard so vividly brought to life by means of your exceptional, and generous talents. Peace, Jack" Jack Sharkey - theater producer and our first generous supporter.
Shawn Elliott, Begonya Plaza, Linda Larkin. @ CaterinaArmenter, May 2011
CAST:
Shawn Elliott plays Andrés Moreno and is an actor with numerous theatre, film and television credits. Stage credits include JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS, CITY OF ANGELS, MARIE CHRISTINE, SEÑOR DISCRETION HIMSELF, and EINSTEIN'S GIFT. Film & TV credits include: EYES, DO THE RIGHT THING, CAUGHT, DOUBLE TAKE, MIAMI VICE, CSI MIAMI, as well as numerous episodes of LAW AND ORDER. Mr. Elliott is married to two-time Tony-winner Donna Murphy.
Begonya Plaza plays Carlotta Pardo. Ms. Plaza has been directed by Michael Mann, Clint Eastwood, Amy Jones, Oliver Stone, Tim Hunter and Walter Hill. Her stage credits include Philip Seymour Hoffman's IN ARABIA WE'D ALL BE KINGS, Austrian director Kurt Palm's one-woman show of erotic songs and poems by Bertolt Brecht, Yevnegy Lanskoy's YERMA AS YERMA, and IN FRIENDS. Ms. Plaza has acted opposite Robert De Niro, Tom Cruise, Willem Dafoe, Klaus Kinski, Roddy McDowall, and Carol O'Connor, and starred in the CBS series, DARK JUSTICE, shot on location in Barcelona.
Linda Larkin plays Becky Pardo in TERESA'S ECSTASY and is also the voice of Princess Jasmine in Walt Disney’s ALADDIN, as well as THE RETURN OF JAFAR, ALADDIN AND THE KING OF THIEVES, and the Emmy-nominated ALADDIN television series. Ms. Larkin has appeared in numerous plays, movies, and television series, most notably as Poppy in NOISES OFF (Alley Theatre), Dierdre in I HATE HAMLET (Actors Theatre of Louisville), Violet in NOTES FROM THE CONFEDERACY (Cherry Lane Theatre), Carrie in TWO NINAS (winner, GenArt Film Festival), Ms. Danforth in JOSHUA (Sundance, Fox Searchlight), Kelly in THE NEXT BEST THING (Paramount), and Meredith in the Webby-nominated series PUPPY LOVE. Ms. Larkin is married to Tony-nominated actor Yul Vazquez.
ANDRES MORENO, or Andy: 50s, Spanish painter, anti-establishment hermit, intellectual, witty and enraged.
CARLOTTA PARDO, or Carla: 40s, an American writer, determined to break away and find her true self, returns to Spain to write about Teresa of Avila, and visits Andrés to straighten out their personal business.
BECKY COHEN: 30s, Jewish/American, emancipated lesbian, ambitious New York magazine publisher, and an advocate of Carla’s work.
SCULPTURE- Bernini is praised for his synthesis of sculpture, painting, and architecture. The church was extended so that a hidden window could be added to cast light upon the sculpture, as if from the Holy Spirit. Cherubs painted on the entrance arch bear a banner inscribed with the words Jesus spoke in one of Teresa's visions: "If I had not created heaven, I would create it for you alone."
ANGEL - "He was not tall, but short, and very beautiful," related Teresa of her vision, "his face so aflame that he appeared to be one of the highest types of angel who seem to be all afire."
SWOON - Bernini brings all the passion and rapture of Teresa's story to represent, perhaps for the first time, the now-immortalized image of a swoon: head thrown back, eyelids half-closed, mouth slightly open as she moans in ecstasy.
GARMENTS - Teresa is covered in monastic habit, yet through Bernini's genius, the heavy garments reveal rather than conceal Teresa's internal state.
FOOT - Her dangling bare foot is emblematic of the Disclaced ("Shoeless") Carmelites, the reformed religious order Teresa founded (from Matthew 10:10, "no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or walking stick").
CLOUDS - In translating Teresa's mystical vision into stone, Bernini first captured Teresa's reports of levitation by having her borne on a bank of marble clouds. (The clouds are hollow, to decrease the weight of the wall-mounted sculpture.)
Begonya Plaza is a Spanish/American stage and screen actress, writer and director.
TERESA'S ECSTASY is being produced for an Off-Broadway run in March 2012. "The Persistence of Memory" is a screenplay that tells the story of a young man taken for the ride of his life, with Salvador and Gala Dalí, becoming their muse, and boy toy. It is being developed at ACA Films with a letter of interest from actress Glenn Close to play Gala. The short film, "American Hero" is a contemplation on the ravages of war. Begonya wrote, directed, and acts opposite James A. Lee.
At age nine, Begonya starred in a Hollywood independent film, "BIG SISTER". During her formative years, she grew up between Colombia, Spain and Hollywood. Still in College at Los Angeles City College Theater Academy, director Walter Hill cast Begonya in 48HRS playing the "indian hooker", a role that was meant to be nude, but a few weeks after Begonya turned down the role, Walter Hill came back acquiesing. In New York, Begonya trained with The National Shakespeare Company, Geraldine Page, Michael Howard, Bill Hickey, and Herbert Berghoff. She studied dance at Alvin Ailey and voice with Graham Bernard.
Ms. Plaza has been directed by Michael Mann, Amy Jones, Oliver Stone, Tim Hunter, and on stage by Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Labyrinth Theater Company's production of IN ARABIA WE'D ALL BE KINGS. Her stage credits also include Austrian director Kurt Palm's one-woman show of erotic songs and poems by Bertolt Brecht, Yevnegy Lanskoy's YERMA AS YERMA, and IN FRIENDS. Ms. Plaza has acted opposite Robert De Niro, Tom Cruise, Willem Dafoe, Klaus Kinski, Roddy McDowall, and Carol O'Connor, Begonya was the female lead for the first 12 episodes of CBS' Dark Justice, shot on location in Barcelona, where a few years later, her daughter was born.
"SOUVENIR VIEWS" is a 24-minute documentary shot in New York and Barcelona with English/Spanish subtitles, about a young man's self-imposed rite of passage journey influenced by the Situationist Movement. Premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, Festival International del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano, and aired nationally on the Independent Film Channel. (Writer, director, camera, editor)
THE PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY, is a screenplay about one year in the life of Salvador Dalí and his muse, Gala, seen from the eyes of a young lover who’s ambition to triumph as a dancer, leads him to the seducing, preying hands of the Dalis. Glenn Close is interested in playing the role of Gala and Director of Photography, Juan Ruiz-Anchia, would like to direct.
AMERICAN HERO, is a 15-minute short film about an Iraqi Veteran who returns from the war and temporarily crashes at his sister, Jane's, New York apartment. Through their difficult relasionship it becomes apparent just how irreparably damaged her brother is. Through their struggle to comprehend, they discover that in order to maintain dignity and heal, only love and forgiveness will sustain them. Begonya wrote, directed and acts opposite James A. Lee.
TERESA'S ECSTASY is a two-act, three-character humorous and poignant stage play, set in Barcelona. It is a contemporary mystical journey of change and defiance as opposing sexually charged forces look at love, politics and religion. INTAR in NYC has produced two workshop readings with the purpose of producing the play end of 2011 as a world premiere.
FACE to FACE with GOD is a stage play about four historical Hispanic characters meeting with God to discuss their lives on earth, and face the creator's ultimate justice.
In 1986 Begonya produced, directed and edited the documentary, GERNIKA LIVES, exploring the filmmaker’s Basque heritage and the tragic events her father, as a young boy experienced during the bombing of Gernika and the Spanish Civil War. Those stories of war and misery were the bed-time children's stories she was told by her father. 45min. Narrated by the late John Randolph.
E-mail Begonya at: begonya@begonyaplaza.com
