The Queen of Spades
by Joel Gross
Directed by Robert Kalfin
Music by Jack Ramsey
Featuring: Cynthia Harris*, MacKenzie Meehan*, Brian Sutherland, and Brad Schmidt
The Queen of Spades is Catherine Chandler, a well to do, oft-married New York socialite who has resigned herself to her Fifth Avenue apartment, alone with her memories. She holds an irresistible secret to success, which drives the envious to extreme measures to reveal it. Little do they know, the one who holds the secret has the heaviest burden of all…
From the Playwright:
Alexander Pushkin’s famous tale of 1833 has always intrigued me, but not simply because of its obsession with gambling. What strikes me is how someone can pretend love in the service of gaining a material advantage. The coarse desire of greed trumping a spiritual need is awful, and tragic. Be careful what you wish for….
In my contemporary rendering of The Queen of Spades a beautiful elderly woman, much married, very rich, is the target. But not simply for the rich woman’s money, but the secret she possesses and the mysterious success it allows her at the gambling tables. Naturally this is a secret fated to destroy anyone who possesses it.
About the Playwright:
JOEL GROSS (Playwright) Joel’s three-character drama, Marie Antoinette: The Color of Flesh, has played off-Broadway, regionally, in Canada, and Australia, and will soon be seen in Ann Arbor, MI, and Portland, ME. The play is published by Dramatists Play Service, and has just been translated into French. Other plays have been presented in productions and workshops at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Old Globe (San Diego) the Actors Studio, the York Theatre Company (NY), and the Caldwell Theatre (Boca Raton.) Joel has written the book to the musical Dillinger: Public Enemy Number One, in development with director Wayne Cilento.
Joel’s film script, Mortal Armor: The Legend of Galahad, produced by Gale Anne Hurd and directed by Jon Amiel, will be filmed in the UK next year. He has worked on features for Fox, Universal, and Sony, and written a TV movie for Paramount. His novels include The Books of Rachel, and Sarah: A Novel of Sarah Bernhardt. Joel has an M.A. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University. He is a member of P.E.N., the Dramatists Guild, the Playwrights Unit of the Actors Studio, the Writers Guild, and the Authors Guild. www.joelgross.com
