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Home Local Station Board, CAB & PNB Pacifica Performance Showcase 03-07-09 Encore of Ellen Geer's "The Strength of Women"

03-07-09 Encore of Ellen Geer's "The Strength of Women"

Pacifica Performance Showcase
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To celebrate International Women's Day and Women's History month, Pacifica Performance Showcase offers an encore presentation of a show which first aired on 11/08/08, actor/writer/activist Ellen Geer’s “The Strength of Women,” the first in her series of “Americana” Plays.  Ellen Geer’s career spans both stage and screen, with such notable films as “Petulia,” “Harold and Maude,” “Heart Like a Wheel,” and countless other roles.  As the daughter of Will Geer, most beloved perhaps as “Grandpa Walton,” on the hit television series, “The Waltons,” Ellen carries forth her father’s political and creative legacy as Artistic Director of the Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga Canyon, the beginnings of which stretch back to the early 1950’s.  Will Geer, himself a victim of blacklisting, formed a theatre for Blacklisted actors and folk singers.  Today, the Theatricum Botanicum’s mission remains to present thought-provoking, socially relevant plays, as well as educational programs in a beautiful, natural outdoor setting, a sanctuary for the arts. In creating her Americana series of plays, Ellen sought to bring to audiences, young and old, the rich tapestry of our heritage through many of the historic and contemporary figures so often taught in the schools, highlighting women whose contributions give us the strength to forge ahead on the journey toward equality.  Especially appropriate, in light of an election year which gave us, in Hillary Clinton, a viable woman candidate for President, the piece fittingly ends with Michelle Obama, the first Black First Lady in American history, giving new meaning to the phrase, “Behind every great man, there is a great woman.”   

“The Strength of Women,” stars Ellen Geer, Melora Marshall, Karen Reed, Katherine Griffith, and Earnestine Phillips, each playing a variety of characters.