F e l i c i t a s

Download PDF of PRESS RELEASE

 

 

Immediate Release                                          

felicitas

 

A one-woman show written & performed by Libby Skala

Mandolin music by Steven May, Directed by Janice L. Goldberg

 

 

“Charming! A beautiful tribute!”

 New York Theatre Now

 

“Powerful…grand and epic. A lively, fascinating

and touching creation. I highly recommend Felicitas!”

 Simply Showbiz

 

“Inspirational without syrup. A performance that engages our

emotions, respects our intelligence and leaves us feeling uplifted.”

BlogCritics

 

NEW YORK – [Presenting organization] proudly presents FELICITAS, written and performed by Libby Skala (Best Solo Performer, A Time to Dance – London Fringe Festival; Off Bway: Lilia!; Film: Birth with Nicole Kidman), with original mandolin music by  Steven May, and directed by Janice L. Goldberg (The Kennedy Center Gold Medallion Award). Performances are [venue and address] on [dates and times]. Tickets are [price] and can be purchased at [website] or by calling [phone number]. For more information please visit www.LibbySkala.com.

 

Libby Skala charmed audiences internationally with her acclaimed solo plays Lilia! about her Oscar-nominated actress grandmother Lilia Skala and A Time to Dance about her award-winning great aunt Lisl, a pioneering dancer. She returns to complete the trilogy with FELICITAS, the story of her great aunt Lizi, a tough-love Austrian baby nurse who flees Nazi-occupied Austria to build a new life in America.

 

Born in pre-world war Vienna under the Hapsburg Empire to a Catholic mother and Jewish father, Lizi grows up under the shadow of two forceful older sisters. Carving out her own path, she devotes herself to keeping babies alive and teaching new mothers strict baby care techniques of the day. As a social worker and nurse at the avant-garde Moll Institute in Vienna between world wars, she fulfills her dream of establishing structure to brand new lives, watching hopeless newborns flourish under her gifted touch, while struggling to balance her personal life with her professional devotion. When the Nazi-regime terminates her work, she flees to America where she is forced to re-invent herself utilizing her talent and training. A celebration of love, discipline and the nobility of a life in service.

 

Featuring original mandolin music written and performed by Steven May and video designed by Stephen Stevo Arnoczy.

 

Tickets are [price]. For more information and photos, visit www.LibbySkala.com. Running Time: 65 minutes

 

LISTING INFO: The real-life story of a gifted, educated, spunky Austrian-emigree baby nurse who sacrifices her own family relationships to nurture newborns and mothers with firmness and compassion - all set against the backdrop of WWII.

 

 

BIOGRAPHIES     

 

LIBBY SKALA (Playwright / Performer) has charmed audiences internationally with her two critically-acclaimed solo plays: Lilia!, about her Oscar-nominated actress grandmother Lilia Skala, and A Time to Dance, about her great aunt Elizabeth Polk, an award-winning dance therapy pioneer. Libby performed Lilia! in an Off-Broadway run at The Arclight Theatre, and won “Best Solo Performer Award” at The London Fringe Festival for A Time to Dance. Both shows have toured North America and Europe. Felicitas completes the trilogy and is about Lizi, the youngest of the three sisters, a tough-love baby nurse. Other stage work includes Viola in St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival’s Twelfth Night and appearing in the film Birth with Nicole Kidman. Libby is a graduate of Oberlin College and is an award recipient of the Pandella Cultural Fund in Switzerland. www.LibbySkala.com

 

STEVEN MAY (Composer / Musician) has been playing music since the tender age of three, when he made his first make‐shift violin out of a ruler taped to a cereal box in his native Kentucky. His background includes classical, country, Celtic, bluegrass, folk, jazz, and Brazilian music. On fiddle, he alternates between an acoustic and an electric 7‐string with the range of violin, viola and cello. On the mandolin, he alternates between an acoustic and baritone electric. That versatility allows him to switch seamlessly between traditional sounds and crunchy rock and hip hop grooves. His interest in various musical traditions has led him to a variety of recording and performing projects. Credits include: Erica Sunshine Lee; Beltaine’s Fire; Steve Ferguson and Midwest Creole Ensemble; The Clearing; Three at Last; and Lisa Redfern. www.SMay.net

 

JANICE L. GOLDBERG (Director) was recently awarded The Kennedy Center Gold Medallion Award for her work with new plays. She has directed over 75 new works, uptown and down, across the country, from university to Off-Broadway. Recent work includes The Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Alaska, The Stop Gun Violence Now Theater Festival, Speedball at the Kennedy Center, Autumn Run (also co-author) and These Shining Lives at Adelphi University. For FringeNYC she directed That Dorothy Parker and After Anne Frank (both award winners and selected for Fringe Encores) and The Gathering Room. She directed the Off-Broadway premiere of Rose Colored Glass, which she co-authored and is published by Samuel French, Inc. For Artistic New Directions she has directed Gary Garrison & Roland Tec’s The Rubber Room, Kristine Niven’s Human Resources, numerous Eclectic Shorts and Go Solos! Janice is co-author of 8 plays with Susan Bigelow and directed each in Northern California, as well as Bindlestiff’s Dance Hall, commissioned for the National Eco-Drama Festival & featured in American Theater Magazine. Janice is the recipient of the Pilgrim Project Grant, and a Writer/Director Residency at the Dorset Writers' Colony, VT. Her work ranges in scope from mime to musical, from contemporary farce to courtroom drama, from plays for women to plays full of testosterone. She serves as Artistic Co-Director of Artistic New Directions in New York and leads her Nail-the-Job workshops in Cold Readings and Auditions for students all over the country. www.JaniceLGoldberg.com

 

STEPHEN STEVO ARNOCZY (Video Design) is a freelance media designer native to New York City. He attended NYU (TSOA ‘04-‘08) He is an associate video designer at Imaginary Media Artists and the company video designer for The Dance Cartel. Recently he’s worked with: Stein|Holum Project, Fresh Ground Pepper, Ping Chong Company, Liz Lerman, Sleep No More, and Maya Ciarrocchi. His work has been seen in NYMF (New York Musical Festival), and at 3LD, Theater Row, XL Nightclub, Kent 285, The Living Theater, The Bushwick Starr, and Ars Nova. His video design for Bio-Hazard: A Relative Comedy starring Sarah Elizabeth Greer won the 2013 United Solo Festival Award for BEST MULTIMEDIA