World Premiere opens Friday, November 5, 2021
On a hot night in New Orleans, two very different women — lost in loneliness and the living death of feeling invisible – try to connect and find a way to bring themselves back to life.
*Mask and proof of vaccination or negative COVID test required for all audience members.
Performance Schedule
Thursday November 4 (8pm) Preview performance
Friday November 5 (8pm) Opening Night
Saturday November 6 (8pm) Neighborhood Night
Thursday November 11 (8pm)
Sunday November 14 (2pm)
Tuesday November 16 (8pm) Industry Night
Friday November 19 (8pm)
In The Press
“Two captivating, intriguing characters … full of complications, observations and tart dialogue. It has plenty of atmosphere, with Joshua Woods playing saxophone and music director Rodney Allen on piano during the performance and a realistic streetscape set design by Gabrielle Stephenson. Beasley brings depth to her role as a woman who has missed out on much in life. The character of Myra seems to be fighting some inner demons, which Beasley beautifully conveys. McQueen has strong comic timing and instincts … [her] best moments are the quiet ones she shares with Beasley, as they two women talk, listen to each other and profess their jealously of each other.” (excerpt from ArtsATL review by Jim Farmer)
ArtsATL – November 10, 2021 Raising the Dead review by Jim Farmer
What audiences are saying…
“The production is beautiful and such an important story about the power of connection and a genuine love letter to feminine storytelling. I loved it!”
“a beautifully heart-tugging tale of friendship and our need for connection in this upside-down world! I’m so delighted to have had the great fortune of seeing its premiere.”
“I absolutely loved the integration of the live music. Brilliant!”
“Raising the Dead is a tender yet fierce new play written by the expert hand of playwright Erin Considine. Well-deserving of the Essential Theatre new play award, this work stayed with me long after the lights went down. Beautiful writing, beautiful acting, beautiful production. If you haven’t seen it – GO!”
“Really honest, heartbreaking, inspiring performances from two actors who know how to deliver the goods, with beautifully evocative music played by Rodney Allen and Joshua Woods.”
Cast:
Myra: Laurie Beasley
Harlowe: Ellen McQueen*
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States, appearing under a Special Appearance Contract
Artistic Team:
Playwright: Erin K. Considine
Directors: Peter Hardy and Ellen McQueen
Stage Manager: Kyra Cohen
Scenic Designer: Gabrielle S. Stephenson
Lighting Designer: Harley Gould
Sound Designer: Joshuia Campbell
Costume Designer: Erin Magner
Propsmaster: Chase Weaver
Master Carpenter: Rachel Graf Evans
Scenic Artist: Gabrielle S. Stephenson
Meet the Playwright: Erin K. Considine
Erin K. Considine is co-winner of the 2021 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award, along with Anthony Lamarr White. An emerging Southern Playwright from the Atlanta area, her first full-length play Pete & Wendy was included in 2016’s Bare Essentials Play Reading Series. This collaboration led to the development of Riding Bicycles in the Rain (2017 Ethel Woolson Lab & 2018 Playwrights Voiced Festival),and Flaming Out (2018 First Light Reading Series). Her scripts Twenty-Two (2020 Dramaworkshop at Palmbeach Dramaworks, 2020 New Works Festival at the Garry Marshall Theatre, and 2020 Ethel Woolson Lab) and Raising the Dead (2021 Unexpected Play Festival) both incubated during the lost year of the pandemic. Erin was named a Finalist for the 2019 Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, a Semi-Finalist for the 2020 BAPF and the 2020 PlayPenn Conferences, and she was the Winner of the 2020 Tennessee Williams Festival One Act Play Competition. Fall of 2020 she was a Travis Bogard Artist-in-Residence and the first Carey Perloff Fellow at the Tao House as part of the Eugene O’Neill Foundation.
