Theater 66: Escape From Cottage Woods
Synopsis
In the short play Escape from Cottage Woods, Macie, 94, is a longtime resident of a retirement community in a bucolic setting in North Carolina. Lily, her daughter, believes that Macie is being overmedicated into a compliant, zombified state by the establishment’s staff. Macie and Lily have some unresolved mother-daughter issues.
Writer and Director
Virginia Linden
Virginia Linden is the playwright and director of Escape from Cottage Woods. She recently had two of her one-act plays produced at East Los Angeles College. She is also an actor with a career spanning four decades.
Virginia Linden
Cast
Kim Hlavac (Lily)
Kim Hlavac (Playwright/Director) is an actor from New York who graduated from the infamous High School of Performing Arts, from which the movie FAME was created. Kim received her BFA in theatre arts and film from SUNY/Purchase under the tutelage of George Morrison. Other influential acting mentors include Uta Hagen and Wynn Handman. Kim has performed in various plays in New York, TV & commercials.
When Covid put the world on hold, Kim took up writing and put her creativity onto paper. She is so excited to debut her first script and directing skills on Bernadette’s amazing Open-Door Playhouse podcast, with talented actors she met over Station House and VS Theaters’ Zoom readings. Kim has been a proud member of the Actors Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA since 1982.
Kim Hlavac
Cast:
Laura Gardner (Macie)
Laura has appeared on Broadway in SMILE. Her Off Broadway credits include THE COCKTAIL HOUR, OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY and WELDED directed by Jose’ Quintero. She toured nationally in SHOWBOAT, DOONESBURY, OLIVER, and MY FAIR LADY. Her extensive regional credits include the Arena Stage, Huntington Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, McCarter Theatre, and the NC Shakespeare Festival in roles that ranged from Lady Macbeth to Miss Hannigan. Locally she has done four shows with the Pasadena Playhouse her last KING CHARLES III as Camilla Parker Bowles directed by Michael Michetti. She is a member of the Road Machine and The Rogue Theatre.
Some of her TV and film credits include LAW AND ORDER/SVU, SEAL TEAM, ANIMAL KINGDOM, OUTCAST, THE ROMANOFFS, and CRIMINAL MINDS.
A sought-after Coach and Acting teacher Laura has taught her Authenticity Workshops all over the country and now on Zoom and was on the faculty of the Howard Fine Acting Studio in Los Angeles and Australia for over 19 years. lauragardner.org
Lara Gardner
Sound Production:
Oak House Recording Studio in Pasadena, CA with Sound Engineer David Peters.
