EudoraWeltyOnstage.com
The stories of America's great writer performed onstage

Who’s Who

Brenda Currin (Actress, Co-Adaptor) who grew up in Oxford, North Carolina, played the daughter in the film of In Cold Blood while still in college. Other films: Reds, Taps, The World According to Garp (Pooh), Life With Mikey, and the cult classic, C.H.U.D. She won an Obie award for My Sister in This House at the Second Stage Theater in New York. Other plays produced in New York include: Threepenny Opera directed by Richard Foreman at Lincoln Center, Museum, The Art of Dining by Tina Howe, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, Impossible Marriage by Beth Henley starring Holly Hunter, Linda Her by Harry Kondoleon. Regional theater work includes: The Cherry Orchard (Anya), The Ghost Sonata (Hyacinth Girl, directed by Andre Serban at Yale Rep), leads in two world premieres - The Envoi Messages, and Voice of the Prairie, and Catherine in Arms and the Man. She created the role of Ruth in Eve Ensler's Conviction. Brenda has focused her theatrical career largely on collaborations of original pieces and adaptations. She collaborated with Martha Clarke on Vienna: Lusthaus and The Hunger Artist, Breece D'J. Pancake's stories, Legacy (all three produced by Music-Theatre Group).

Philip Fortenberry (Pianist) A native of Columbia, Mississippi, Philip Fortenberry began playing piano at the age of four and by seven was accompanist for his church. He received a Bachelor of Music degree in classical piano performance from William Carey College. Early in his career he was musical director and
on-stage pianist for the off-Broadway satirical revue, Forbidden Broadway. He was musical supervisor for London’s West End version of that show. Philip has played for several Broadway productions and national tours including Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, Saturday Night Fever, Ragtime, Seussical The Musical and Sideshow. Philip toured the U.S. and Canada in concert performances of The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, and has been a frequent guest for Lincoln Center's "Meet the Artists" series. In the autumn of 2001, he was pianist for Harry Connick, Jr. and Susan Stroman's Broadway collaboration, Thou Shalt Not, and the first national tour of Disney's The Lion King. Philip made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1986 as pianist/conductor for Eartha Kitt, and returned to Carnegie Hall in 2001 with The Three Irish Tenors Christmas concert.

David Kaplan (Director, Co-Adaptor) stages plays around the world, most recently Tennessee Williams’ The Eccentricities of a Nightingale in Cantonese at the Hong Kong Repertory Theater. Seasons past include: King Lear in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, performed in the Uzbek language; Genet’s The Maids in Ulan Baator, Mongolia, performed in Mongolian; A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Budhhist Buryatia, performed in the Buryat language. In Russia, and in the Russian language Mr.Kaplan staged the first production of the American comic classic Auntie Mame at the 200 year old Penza Theater, the first Russian production of Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly Last Summer (the subject of a TASS documentary), as well as Shakespeare’s Macbeth, both in Samara, Russia. Plays directed by Mr. Kaplan have appeared in 40 of the 50 United States. These include his own adaptations of Charles Finney’s The Circus Of Dr. Lao and two American operas: Stephen Foster’s Beautiful Dreamer, Gertrude Stein’s Dr. Faustus Lights the Lights. More traditional repertory staged by Mr. Kaplan include Genet’s The Maids in New York , Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard in Los Angeles, and the monologues of Ruth Draper. Mr. Kaplan is the author of the college textbook "Five Approaches to Acting" used in colleges throughout the United States, published in Italian in fall 2003. See also DavidKaplanDirector.com

Edwin W. Schloss (Producer) graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts with a major in playwriting. He is the Associate Producer of the Broadway revival of Wonderful Town and Kiss Me Kate for which he received an Outer Critics Circle Award. He was also the Associate Producer of Full Gallop featuring Mary Louise Wilson as Diane Vreeland. Mr. Schloss co-produced: Buried Child (Tony nomination), Elisabeth Welch in Concert (Outer Critics Circle Award) and The World of Ruth Draper with Patricia Norcia. He has also produced the original cast recording of Tallulah with Helen Gallagher, the musical revue Corkscrews! and the compact disc of June Recital.