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RAT ST.JOAN AND THE DANCING SICKNESS PRESS RELEASE



PLEASE FORWARD, COPY, POST- MOST OF ALL- PLEASE COME!!MY APOLOGIES IF 
ANYONE GETS MORE THAN ONE COPY OF THIS RELEASE.

-
BRAD


*  Press release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Theatre Double's  reading series,
Underground Voices
Curated by Brad Rothbart
presents a reading of
St. Joan and  the Dancing Sickness
by Julie Hébert

 The cast of  St.Joan and the Dancing Sickness includes  Lisa Norton 
as JEANETTE LEBLANC, Juanita Amonetti as THE OLD NUN,  Vincent Yates 
as REVEREND ISAAC JUMONVILLE, Sonja Robson as SENATOR DELPHINE 
PELTIER,  Harum Ullmer Jr.  as her assistant  RAPHAEL, Brian Anthony 
Wilson  as JEANETTE'S FATHER/ BISHOP ROBICHEAUX, Jeff Marsh as 
ROCKET/STEVE  and  Jona Harvey as REVA TOPPS/ROSE CLOUTIER.  The 
reading will  take place at Theatre Double, 1619 Walnut Street   in 
Philadelphia on Monday 29 May at 8 pm.  Doors will open at 7:30. The 
reading is  for one night only.  Admission is pay-what-you-can, and 
the space is wheelchair accessible.

About the work, Liz Engelman of  A Contemporary Theater in Seattle 
says: "The play coalesces wonderfully into a political, moral and 
emotional story of a girl's obedience to her voice within, and its 
disastrous social consequences.  The writing is heard, gritty, and 
the images wonderfully
tough.  The message is a profound one."

Please join us for  this urban update of St. Joan.  The work has 
never been produced, and Ms. Hébert has never before been read in 
Philadelphia. Following the performance, please stay for our free 
wine-and cheese reception at which you will get the chance to 
informally discuss the work with the  director and actors.

Julie Hebért (Playwright)
Hébert was a 1995-96 National Endowment for the Arts Playwriting 
Fellow, as well as the recipient of a California Arts Council 
Playwriting Grant for the same year. In 1998-99, she was a 
participant in the  NEA/TCG  Theatre Residency Program for 
Playwrights with the Women’s Project  in New York.  In 1999 she 
received the PEN Center West Award for Drama as well as second prize
in the Susan Smith Blackburn Award for her play, The Knee Desires the 
Dirt. From 1989 - 1993, Hébert served as Artistic Director for the 
Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans, during which time she 
received an NEA Inter-Arts grant for her collaboration on Heiner 
Mueller's Despoiled Shore/Medeamaterial/Landscape with Argonauts, 
with visual artist Douglas Bourgeois, composer Mark Bingham and 
choreographer Deborah Slater.  The work was  further honored with a 
cover story in American Theatre magazine.  Hébert has directed dozens 
of new plays for theaters including Circle Rep, LaMaMa, Provincetown 
Playhouse, Steppenwolf, Los Angeles Theater Center, Magic Theater, 
Eureka Theater, San Diego Rep and others.  Early in her career she 
received the NEA Directing Fellowship with the Magic Theater.  Under 
the auspices of the Japan America Foundation she took Circle Rep’s 
production of Sam Shepard's play, Fool For Love , on tour throughout 
Japan.  Hebert's directing work has been honored with a Drama-Logue, 
a Critic's Circle nomination, an NAACP Image Award nomination, an 
Emmy, and she was a finalist for the 1996 TCG Alan Schneider 
Directing Award, representing the Western States. Hébert wrote the 
screenplay, Female Perversions, adapted from the book of the same 
name by Louise J. Kaplan.  The film, directed by Susan Streitfeld, 
starring Tilda Swinton and Amy Madigan, was released by October 
Films.   Recently her teleplay, All-American Girl: The Mary Kay 
Letorneau Story was aired on USA Networks.  Currently, she is writing 
a teleplay for ABC and preparing to direct her first feature film. 
Hébert has taught playwriting and directing with various institutions 
including Padua Hills Playwrights Festival, Alternate Roots, UC 
Davis, UC Santa Cruz, and UCLA.

	  			 Future Readings Include:
			            05 June  Stations of Desire- an 
email text collaboration
				19 June  Lisa D'Amour 16 Spells to 
Charm the Beast
For further information on  Underground Voices call: 215.557.9420x5