Theater 89: Flesh and Blood
Summary
Coen's comedy/drama Flesh and Blood is set in a Jewish cemetery in Queens, N.Y. It is pre-dawn. Three headstones have been marked with swastikas. Shelia Krickstein appears and crosses to the desecrated grave of her mother. She’s looking for the caretaker who called her with the news, but instead, encounters an older grieving woman in 50s attire and, later, a judgmental Rabbi. Pregnant, overdue, abandoned by her husband, and scarred by her upbringing, Shelia has little patience with these unwelcome representatives of a culture that she believes has failed her. As tensions rise, and her long repressed grievances emerge, Shelia suddenly finds herself in an unexpected moment of spiritual and physical salvation.
Flesh and Blood was written and directed by Dana Coen staring Lisa Robins as Shelia Krickstein, Sharron Shayne as Joy Levine, Allan Wasserman as Hy Graber, and Anne Cooper as Rose Krickstein. Produced by Bernadette Armstrong, mixed by Sound Engineer David Peters at Oak House Studio in Altadena, CA.
Writer & Director Dana Coen
Dana Coen
Writer/Director DANA COEN is the former director of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill's Writing for the Screen and Stage Program, a two-year, dramatic writing program. After an early career as a New York actor, stage director, and playwright, he transitioned to television writing. His credits include Co-Executive Producer/Writer positions on the Fox series BONES, the CBS series JAG, where he spent eight seasons and wrote 37 episodes, and a comedy development deal for Walt Disney Studios. Screen and television writing awards include the 2021 Silver Bullet Screenwriting Award for his screenplay SLEEPING UPRIGHT, The Jewish Image Award and The Templeton Prize. As a playwright his work has been produced extensively, including an off-Broadway production of his play SYMPATHY.
Cast:
Lisa Robins - Shelia
LISA ROBINS Starred in The Blessing of a Broken Heart, a solo show directed and adapted by Todd Salovey. She originated the role of Valeria in the SD Rep premier of In Every Generation by Ali Viterbi. Additional theater credits; Love, Loss and What I Wore at the Geffen, Catskill Sonata, d.Paul Mazursky, Tom Baum's Shock Therapy, Yehuda Hyman’s Center of the Star and Long Bridge…d. Bill Rausch with Cornerstone, Sex…by George Furth, d.John Rubenstein, and Good in Bed, d. Asaad Kelada and produced by Martin Landau… Film/TV includes Rum Diary, James Dean, d. Mark Rydell, other guest stars and commercials. Lisa plays Rachel Sweeny's mom in Fish Bowl, which premieres this week at the Sun Valley Film Festival. Lisa's new solo play, Committed, was chosen to appear in the Whole Megillah new play festival at SD Rep. Lifetime member of the Actors Studio, Rogue Machine, and an Artist in Residence at The Braid. Lisa’s finest work of art is her kid, Ren, a senior at Yale!
Lisa Robins
Sharron Shayne as Joy
Training John Lehne, Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, Harold Clurman, Sanford Meisner, Robert Lewis, Paul Richards; Shakespeare: royal academy of dramatic art-London; lifetime member of the actors studio, rogue machine theatre, pacific resident theatre, theatre 40. Daniel Hoff agency 5455 Wilshire boulevard suite 1100 Los Angeles, ca. 90036 (323) 932-2500 special skills: improv, jazz Latin, ballroom, yoga, swimming, Krav Maga, speak some French (un petit peu), dialects(all kinds) Wes Schlagenhauf is dying; the iron door; directors: keeping company featured josh Wallace josh lead josh Kaplan the next Cassavetes featured Stefan Lysenko queen of spades lead angel Maksimova end of the road featured joe spencer go fish featured Lawrence Simeone house on the hill featured chuck workman sally boy featured Chris Raffaele open studio lead Barbara Ryerson The Gifted.
television live another day lead -Shoah foundation Addison Sandoval web series: Raymond & lane - drug dealing for dummies - featured sex sent me to the er featured Justin jones seduced featured CBS mow Beverly Hills bunts featured MTM prods Cagney & Lacey featured Orion TV.
Sharron Shayne
Allan Wasserman as Hy Garber
Allan Wasserman celebrates fifty years as a working actor in many feature films ...such as Suburbicon playing opposite Matt Damon and directed by George Clooney and Funny People opposite Adam Sandler and directed by Judd Apatow and many more. His numerous television appearances include recurring guest star work as Rabbi Sherman on the upcoming series The Shrink Next Door opposite Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd, Hunters as well as the F/X pilot Gone Hollywood, and numerous guest stars on Arrested Development, Castle, Two Broke Girls, Bones, The Office, ER, The Sopranos, Boston Legal, Las Vegas, Sex and the City, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Seinfeld. On stage Allan performed on Broadway in The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel with Al Pacino and in many plays in numerous theaters around the country. Allan is an alto saxophonist, vibraphonist and bandleader of The Allan Wasserman Jazz Ensemble
Allan Wasserman
Anne Cooper as Rose
Anne Cooper has acted under the direction of influential Film and TV directors such as Sam Raimi, Paul Schrader, and Kat Coiro. She has performed with Angela Lansbury, Mary Beth Hurt, William Hurt, Danny DeVito, Lee Remick, and Geraldine Page, and most recently in the new film MARRY Me with Jennifer Lopez and John Bradley of House of Thrones. Anne studied acting under Uta Hagen, Herbert Berghof, and Michael Schurtleff, and attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. She has a BA from EMU. In addition to her acting career, She has directed and developed plays both in NYC and LA. She is a theatre consultant to LA GOA, which provides services for adults with developmental disabilities. Anne is on the summer acting faculty at Interlochen Center for the Arts. She has dual citizenship from USA and Italy and speaks fluent Italian. She currently lives and works in Los Angeles and New York. She is a big fan of Bernadette Armstrong as a writer and director, and was in her production of SIMPLE LIVES and feels lucky to again be working with Bernadette.
Anne Cooper
Recorded at The Oak House Studio by Sound Engineer David Peters