Literature & Theatrical Shows

Original plays and theatrical adaptations of classical literature

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Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is often known as the crazy wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby. She was the glittering half of the Golden Couple of the 1920's and muse and inspiration for the flapper characters in Fitzgerald's Jazz Age stories.But before she met Scott, she was the flamboyant and outrageous Zelda Sayre, the famous belle from Montgomery Alabama and the daughter of a judge and an artistic mother. Her antics before and after marriage became the stuff of legends.Though a legend in her own time, Zelda was much more than a southern belle, a glittering jewel on Fitzgerald's arm, Roaring 20's icon or an American expatriate wife in Paris.This originaplay, will pay tribute to an often misunderstood woman; a women who battled schizophrenia for much of her life; a woman who was also a mother, an accomplished ballet dancer, an exhibited artist and a published writer.

                               

                                   Features full set and printed programs for audience.

                                        Approximately 70 minutes with optional Q&A


"Your performance of Zelda was so compelling that I read more about her life online...I strongly feel that your play is phenomenal - you captured her conflicted, gifted, and biochemically unbalanced life... I know that you must have not only explored her life but also immersed yourself into Zelda's experiences in order to have conveyed as much as you did. Today is Day Two and Zelda continues to haunt me."  -audience member, performance at the Brick Library in NJ


 

Born Salamah bint Said, Princess of Zanzibar, in 1844, Emily Reute grew up in a harem with scores of siblings. The royal family maintained it's fabulous wealth and luxury with a robust traffic in ivory, spices and human bondage. The Princess would venture beyond the palace, into the city and plantations where European traders, missionaries, and colonists exercised a growing influence.  There she met Rudolph Reute, a German trader,with whom she eloped to Germany. The Princess also converted to Christianity and took the name Emily.

 

While living in Germany, she attained the perspective to form a comparison of the lives of women in Muslim society with those of their European contemporaries. Originally published in 1886, Waterfall Productions, has adapted this remarkable autobiography for a theatrical presentation, where the audience will meet Princess Salamah and learn about her life in both Zanzibar and Germany as a royal, daughter, outcast,  wife, widow and mother. 

 

                                     65 minutes with talk-back afterwards. Ages 12 & up   


"Many thanks for bringing the Arabian princess to our stage...it's a wonderful piece in addition to being so very timely. We were transported into a world of wonders and stirring human drama."  

-Marc Clopton,

Artistic Director of the Actors Studio of Newburyport MA 


Gothic Victorian Tales    by Candlelight

 

Enter the world of 19th c. New England regional writer, Sarah Orne Jewett with this theatrical presentation. Meet a family embroiled in a family curse, an odd stranger who comes to a small town and an old woman who may or may not immortal.

                                      

50 minutes with Q & A 

Mature Tweens and up

Gothic GHOST Tales 

by Candlelight

 

Some of the most imaginative and original writers  in the 20th century have been women. In their ghost stories, they have probed the possibilities of other dimensions in time and human consciousness. They've mixed old fashion ghosts and science  fiction  to create the modern ghost story. Highlighted in this  presentation, will be stories, spanning from early 20th century to mid-century, from Rose MacCaulay, Agatha Christie and Virginia Layefsky. 

 

50 Minutes with Q & A

Mature 10 & up 


"I attended Waterfall Productions'/ Rita Parisi's "Gothic Tales" at the North Haven Library and was simply floored by Ms. Parisi's abilities to enter in and out of characters and to capture an audience. The production was held very close to Halloween and I have to say that even as an adult, it was a bit terrifying! Ms. Parisi is able to enter and exit characters so seamlessly that the characters she seeks to portray literally take life before you. If you have the opportunity to see her, don't miss one of her solo productions!" - Facebook Review Audience Member


Video Clip Gothic Victorian Tales

Video Clip Gothic Ghost Tales




Just a few of the women portrayed in this show:

  • A Massachusetts housewife who led an all female militia in search of British spies.
  • A German Baroness who followed her Hessian General husband into the British camps
  • A Georgian farmer's wife who took on a search party of Red Coats, all by herself!
  • And OTHERS!

60 Minutes with Q & A afterwards.

Appropriate for ages 10 & up


"My husband and I attended your Women of '76 show. I was spell-bound by the passion that you put into your performance to bring these women to life for us.  When I spoke of your show to my friends, they asked "what new information did you learn?"   My answer was "everything".    All five ladies that you portrayed were unknown to me.   Not anymore!  We specifically drove to *** to see your show...we were not disappointed.   Thank your for an entertaining, educational and totally fun time.   I just love your enthusiasm!"  - Steffi Small, audience member