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    When Real Life Begins
    When Real Life Begins
    When Real Life Begins
    Ebook32 pages27 minutes

    When Real Life Begins

    By Karen Sunde

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    About this ebook

    Martin Denton, founder of NYTheatre.com made this play his “Top Recommendation of the Week,” saying:

    “When Real Life Begins is an extraordinary solo play about passion, love, and theatre. ... a single, long, breathless strand of stream-of-consciousness, moving backward and forward through time and in and out of Anne’s mind and memory.
    “There are two stories in When Real Life Begins, inextricably linked but oppositely arced. One is tragic: the death...from cancer of Sam, an actor and artistic director of a small off-off Broadway company...recounted by Anne, his widow and partner, a woman whose sorrow and loss are finally profound and unknowable. At the same time, though, Anne finds herself blossoming as a theatrical producer, assuming the reins from – and carrying the torch for – her beloved Sam. Her discovery, within herself, of a passionate, artistic visionary, is startling and uplifting. Anne’s journeys – the one characterized by...bouts with despair and exhaustion; the other by the sheer joy of creation and accomplishment – form a moving and resonate counterpoint, and make When Real Life Begins a very special play indeed. (It) packs an undeniable wallop. This is a play you won’t soon forget."

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKaren Sunde
    Release dateJan 2, 2012
    ISBN9781466003750
    When Real Life Begins
    Author

    Karen Sunde

    An actor turned writer, Karen performed many leading roles Off-Broadway, and was Associate Director of CSC Repertory. Her plays have been performed Off-Broadway, in regional theatres, on a USA tour, and in eleven countries and seven languages. Sunde’s first screenplay, UNDERCOVER PATRIOT was a finalist at Sundance. She wrote PARALLEL LOVES for Terra Bella Entertainment, Los Angeles; BOULE DE SUIF (adapt Maupassant) for Dace Direction, London; DREAM HOUSE for Passport Films, NYC; THE FASTEST WOMAN ALIVE for Howard S Shulman Productions, NYC; THE SECRET SHIP; FINAL QUEST: THE MOUNTAIN OF THE GODS; TRIPPING TAMMY; CHICKS GOTTA SWIM; LOVE HITS EARTH (& Other Disasters); NEXT!; adaptations of HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM, screenplay an "Official Selection" at Oaxaca FilmFest, www.AbrahamFilm.org, and IN A KINGDOM BY THE SEA, won the Gold Prize at Hollywood Screenplay Contest. Published plays: DARK LADY, produced Abbey Theatre, Ireland, Aalborg State Theatre, Denmark, optioned for film; BALLOON, won three VILLAGER awards Off-Broadway, nominated Best Play by Outer Critics Circle, aired Radio France; HAITI: A DREAM in FACING FORWARD, produced Seven Stages, Atlanta, aired WNYC, WHYY, NPR; TO MOSCOW, premiered Ankara National Theatre, Turkey, Chain Lightning, New York; OH WILD WEST WIND in ROWING TO AMERICA, produced Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey (PTNJ). PLAYS BY KAREN SUNDE includes TRUTH TAKES A HOLIDAY, read La MaMa, New York City (NYC); IN A KINGDOM BY THE SEA produced PTNJ, HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM, produced PTNJ, Praxis Theatre Project, NYC, premiered at The Unicorn, Kansas City. ANTON, HIMSELF for Actors Theatre of Louisville, also played The Moscow Art Theatre, the Yalta Festival in Russia, Peoples Light and Theatre, NYU in New York. THE FASTEST WOMAN ALIVE produced Luna Stage, NJ, Praxis, NYC, Edinburgh Festival (2010); KABUKI OTHELLO, produced People's Light and Theatre Company and Annenberg Center, Philadelphia; Wisdom Bridge, Chicago; KABUKI LADY MACBETH produced Chicago Shakespeare Theater, cited for five JEFF Awards, including "Best New Work," Best Production," "Best Direction:" IN A KINGDOM BY THE SEA. Scenes from TO MOSCOW; ANTON, HIMSELF; MASHA, TOO; and ABRAHAM appear in SCENES & MONOLOGS FROM THE BEST NEW PLAYS. Among 23 plays--for Actors Theatre of Louisville; People's Light and Theatre; The Acting Company, NYC, Sunde wrote KABUKI MACBETH, KABUKI KING RICHARD and ACHILLES, which toured Hungary, Cyprus, and Japan. She co-wrote musical QUASIMODO,(a musical) premiered Byrdcliffe Festival, Woodstock, NY, produced Lahti City Theatre, Finland. For Cheltenham Center, Philadelphia, she wrote LA PUCELLE (ME & JOAN) and DADDY'S GONE A-HUNTING (TRACKING BLOOD WHITE). In NYC: for Chain Lightning, WHEN REAL LIFE BEGINS, for The Working Theatre, 2020 SEXCARE in FREE MARKET; for Tisch School, NYU, Table and Chair Handmade Theatre, PLEASE GOD, NO WEDDING OR SHOOTING AT THE END! Opera THE SPA with composer Michael Dilthey. also at https://www.dramaticpublishing.com/authors/profile/view/url/karen-sunde Sunde’s won a McKnight Fellowship, an NDEA Fellowship, the Aide de la Creation award in France, the Bob Hope Award, Gold Prize in Hollywood Screenplay Contest, lives in New York City, served on the theatre panel of New Jersey Council on the Arts, and the new plays panel of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, was faculty at New Hampshire Institute of Art's Writing for Stage & Screen MFA program, La MaMa ETC (New York)'s nominee for the Laura Pels/​PEN award, consultant for musical DAMASCUS SQUARE.

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      Book preview

      When Real Life Begins - Karen Sunde

      WHEN REAL LIFE BEGINS was written for Claire Higgins to produce, developed with Richard Edelman, first produced at the Connelly Theatre, New York, by Chain Lightning, featuring Raye Lankford, directed by Ken Marini, and subsequently produced by Fun(d)Raising Players, Cape Cod, and Actors Stock Company/New York.

      WHAT THE CRITICS SAID

      Tour-de-force…a passionate hour of theatrical magic … simultaneously funny and moving monologue about facing death and embracing life. we vividly see their exhilarating time together. Chain Lightning has launched this thrilling play into a life which will outlast its creators, as performers vie to play this showy role.

      Tish Dace, PLAYS INTERNATIONAL

      Illuminating a Broken Heart To Build a Loving Memorial…the sense of loss is transformed by Anne's sense of humor… great emotional upheaval and growth... In the end the woman who tells the story is a great deal more than a survivor. Unforgettable. You wish it would stop, but know you’d feel robbed if it did.

      NEW YORK TIMES

      "When Real Life Begins is an extraordinary solo play about passion, love, and theatre…. Her discovery, within herself, of a passionate, artistic visionary is startling and uplifting. … moving and resonate … a very special play indeed … breathtaking in their simplicity and specificity…. the purity of the piece’s vision… packs an undeniable wallop. This is a play you won’t soon forget."

      NYTheatre.com – Top Recommendation of the Week

      …powerfully moving …rich and dynamic portrayal that reaches deep within … well-placed laughs … depth of emotion and energy runs through this performance like electricity…a woman's enduring love, and a man's desperate reach for the final, ultimate performance.

      BACKSTAGE, New York

      TAGS: plays, one-woman play, case study, cancer, care giver, hospice, theatre, National Institutes of Health, NIH, actor, producer, acting, theatre company, biographical play, monologue, performance technique, plays by women, plays about Chekhov, Synge, In the Shadow of the Glen, Claire Higgins, Kricker James, Chain Lightning Theatre

      When Real Life Begins

      By

      Karen Sunde

      Based on the life of Claire Higgins

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright Karen Sunde

      For all rights to perform this play, apply to:

      130 Barrow #412

      New York, NY 10014

      212/366-1124

      karensunde.com@gmail.com

      www.karensunde.com

      CONTENTS

      WHAT THE CRITICS SAID

      THE PLAY

      PLAYS AND SCREENPLAYS BY

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