Word: henley
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Where does an established playwright take new work to see it brought to life? Once the automatic answer was New York City, on Broadway or off. Now, for Pulitzer prizewinner Beth Henley, the starting place is Costa Mesa, Calif. For Emmy winner Luis Santeiro, it is Miami. For three-time Tony nominee Graciela Daniele, it is Philadelphia. And for Donald Freed, whose Circe and Bravo was a London success, it is Denver. Three of the Broadway season's major plays -- Eastern Standard, The Heidi Chronicles and Largely New York -- originated in Seattle, while Neil Simon's Rumors and A.R. Gurney...
South Coast Repertory Theater in Costa Mesa, which has emerged as one of the foremost venues for new work, served Henley well in its straightforward production of Abundance, a skeptical re-examination of 19th century frontier mythology through the eyes of two mail-order brides. Henley's underlying theme seems to be the way people change during the course of life, often swapping roles with intimates: the exuberant pioneer gradually becomes a timid drudge, while her starry-eyed friend hardens into an adventurer. The final scenes do too much too fast and too vaguely. But the script has the makings...
MISS FIRECRACKER. Holly Hunter reprises her stage role as a lovelorn orphan determined to win a beauty contest. Mary Steenburgen and Alfre Woodard also shine in Beth Henley's comedy about the danger of holding on to youthful dreams and the liberating effect of letting them...
MISS FIRECRACKER. Holly Hunter reprises her stage role as a lovelorn orphan determined to win a beauty contest. Mary Steenburgen and Alfre Woodard also shine in Beth Henley's comedy about the danger of holding on to youthful dreams and the liberating effect of letting them...
...screenwriter, Henley has dramatized elements only hinted at in her play, but the story is the same. Sweet, just slightly trampy Carnelle (Holly Hunter) determines to win the Miss Firecracker Contest as a way of standing up to the mocking townspeople and claiming some of the limelight that illuminates her chic, snooty cousin Elain (Mary Steenburgen). Two men, Carnelle's sometime lover Mac Sam (Scott Glenn) and Elain's wild brother Delmount (Tim Robbins), act as a geek chorus to the drama, but, typically in a Henley play, the real conflict is between young women clawing each other for respect...