Your Weekly Message from PBD

Dear Friend,

Our 20^th anniversary season was originally scheduled to open this Friday, October 9. The theatre will, of course, be dark that night, but you can still spend the evening with us virtually when we present the latest installment of Dramalogue: Talking Theatre! beginning at 7:30pm. This week’s guest will be the versatile John Leonard Thompson, who has appeared at PBD in seven productions, including American Buffalo, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, and Equus.

Although we will be marking our 20^th anniversary online, it hasn’t prevented us from putting together an ambitious season starting on Monday, October 12 at 7:30pm. That’s when we launch our newest series, Contemporary Voices, with a reading of Intimate Apparel, the first of three plays in three weeks by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage. Each Monday night reading is followed by a Wednesday night discussion of the play by theatre professionals and community leaders. The discussion of Intimate Apparel takes place on October 14 at 7:30pm.

Intimate Apparel, a heartfelt and heartbreaking work set at the turn of the 20^th century, tells the story of Esther, a 35-year-old African-American seamstress of exquisite intimate apparel who aches to love and be loved. An unlikely opportunity arises when she enters into a correspondence with a man she’s never met. The play is a lyrical exploration of loneliness and longing, sweet dreams and bitter truths, determination and resiliency.

Contemporary Voices is sponsored by Marilyn Meyerhoff and Sam Feldman. Dramalogue is sponsored by Marlene and Martin Silver.

As most of you are aware, we usually include a page or two in our playbill called Did You Know, which offers insights into and information about the play you’re about to see and/or the playwright who wrote it. There’s no playbill for these readings, but you can click this link for Did You Know – Lynn Nottage and Intimate Apparel.

Tickets for Dramalogue and Contemporary Voices – both the reading and the discussion – are free, but reservations are required. Visit www.palmbeachdramaworks.org or call the box office at 561.514.4042, x2. And donations to PBD are always welcome.

Stay safe!

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9 AT 7:30PM

GUEST:

JOHN LEONARD THOMPSON

John Leonard Thompson was last seen at PBD in Equus. He has done many plays on Broadway (most recently the 2017 revival of M. Butterfly) and Off-Broadway (They Promised Her the Moon; Love, Janis; Sin; and shows with Mint Theater Company and Negro Ensemble Company). He has been seen in the national tours of Angels in America and The Graduate, and at theatres across the United States including Syracuse Stage, Hartford Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville (premieres of Jack and Jill, Tony Kushner's Reverse Transcription, and Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom), Seattle Rep, The Old Globe, Arena Stage, Berkeley Rep, and the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. On film, work includes Guarding Tess, Killer, Empty Chairs, and Apache Moon; on television, Dickinson, Bull, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Person of Interest, The Good Wife, Elementary, The Blacklist, Zero Hour, All My Children, Law & Order (the trifecta), Third Watch, Sesame Street, Summer Switch, The Shady Hill Kidnapping, A Woman Named Jackie, and Romeo and Juliet.