The Gorilla Reading Series presents
CHARLEY AND EMMA by William Leavengood
Monday November 17, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.
The Gorilla Reading Series presents Charley and Emma, a new play by William Leavengood, in a staged reading directed by James Rayfield.
CHARLEY AND EMMA is about the tumultuous life and relationship of the famed father of evolution, Charles Darwin, and his devoutly Christian wife and first cousin, Emma Wedgewood. The play is rich with the history and science of Darwin’s life and discoveries, but also focuses on the struggle and triumph of two people who, despite being divided by an ideology that guided their entire existence, held their marriage together through their compassion and compromise.
Seating strictly limited! Make your reservation now.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
William Leavengood is a two-time O’Neill playwright and alumus of Circle Repertory. His Off-Broadway credits include LITTLE MARY at the Sanford Meisner Theatre; THE HEAD at the Chelsea Playhouse; THE PRESERVATION SOCIETY, directed by Casey Childs, at Primary Stages; and FLORIDA CRACKERS, directed by John Bishop, which premiered as part of Circle Repertory’s 20th Anniversary Season.
William’s short play, STEVE, was presented at the Town Hall Theatre in New York as part of BRAVE NEW WORLD: The American Theater responds to 9/11, and subsequently made into a short film starring Fisher Stevens.
In Florida, recent successes include WEBB’S CITY: THE MUSICAL at the Mahaffey Theater; CROSSING THE BAY at the Janet Root Theater; AMERICAN ROAD at the Gorilla Theatre; and FOOD & SHELTER at American Stage.
His farce, WHAT IS ART?, opened the Reflections Festival of New Plays at the GeVa Theatre, and was later produced at the Court Theatre, Los Angeles, starring Beverly Hills 90210’s Ian Ziering.
17 BLACK was chosen for the National Playwrights Conference and subsequently received the Brodkin Scholarship Award. William was invited to return to the NPC in 1995 with THE PRESERVATION SOCIETY.
Published works include FLORIDA, BOUND, a collection of his plays, and HELLENBACK HIGH. William has received grants from Florida Division of Cultural Affairs; Florida Council for the Arts, Pinellas County Arts Council, and the Berrilla Kerr Foundation. Other awards and honors include the Edith Oliver Fellows Award and “Best of the Bay” Playwright in 2005, 2000, 1999 and 1997. He serves as Artistic Director of the LiveArts Peninsula Foundation and is Director of the Theatre Program at Shorecrest Preparatory School. He belongs to the Circle East Theatre Company (NYC), the Dramatists’ Guild, the Writers’ Guild, and to his wife, Diana, and daughters, Alice and Charlotte.
CHARLEY AND EMMA by William Leavengood
Monday November 17, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.
The Gorilla Reading Series presents Charley and Emma, a new play by William Leavengood, in a staged reading directed by James Rayfield.CHARLEY AND EMMA is about the tumultuous life and relationship of the famed father of evolution, Charles Darwin, and his devoutly Christian wife and first cousin, Emma Wedgewood. The play is rich with the history and science of Darwin’s life and discoveries, but also focuses on the struggle and triumph of two people who, despite being divided by an ideology that guided their entire existence, held their marriage together through their compassion and compromise.
Seating strictly limited! Make your reservation now.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
William Leavengood is a two-time O’Neill playwright and alumus of Circle Repertory. His Off-Broadway credits include LITTLE MARY at the Sanford Meisner Theatre; THE HEAD at the Chelsea Playhouse; THE PRESERVATION SOCIETY, directed by Casey Childs, at Primary Stages; and FLORIDA CRACKERS, directed by John Bishop, which premiered as part of Circle Repertory’s 20th Anniversary Season.
William’s short play, STEVE, was presented at the Town Hall Theatre in New York as part of BRAVE NEW WORLD: The American Theater responds to 9/11, and subsequently made into a short film starring Fisher Stevens.
In Florida, recent successes include WEBB’S CITY: THE MUSICAL at the Mahaffey Theater; CROSSING THE BAY at the Janet Root Theater; AMERICAN ROAD at the Gorilla Theatre; and FOOD & SHELTER at American Stage.
His farce, WHAT IS ART?, opened the Reflections Festival of New Plays at the GeVa Theatre, and was later produced at the Court Theatre, Los Angeles, starring Beverly Hills 90210’s Ian Ziering.
17 BLACK was chosen for the National Playwrights Conference and subsequently received the Brodkin Scholarship Award. William was invited to return to the NPC in 1995 with THE PRESERVATION SOCIETY.
Published works include FLORIDA, BOUND, a collection of his plays, and HELLENBACK HIGH. William has received grants from Florida Division of Cultural Affairs; Florida Council for the Arts, Pinellas County Arts Council, and the Berrilla Kerr Foundation. Other awards and honors include the Edith Oliver Fellows Award and “Best of the Bay” Playwright in 2005, 2000, 1999 and 1997. He serves as Artistic Director of the LiveArts Peninsula Foundation and is Director of the Theatre Program at Shorecrest Preparatory School. He belongs to the Circle East Theatre Company (NYC), the Dramatists’ Guild, the Writers’ Guild, and to his wife, Diana, and daughters, Alice and Charlotte.
