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Deadheading Roses
by Chris Cragin
Directed by Steve Day
Presented at The Lamb's Theatre,
Times Square
When the lights come up we see our protagonist Johnny, a beguiling rose gardener with a child-like faith. She sits alone in the desert with only a goldfish for a companion. There under the hot sun, she struggles to reconcile her calling to remain faithful to her husband and the painful twenty years she spent living with a meth addict. With nothing but heat and sand to sustain her, her will comes close to breaking. But before it does, figures magically appear on the horizon.
Chris Cragin, Playwright
Chris is a playwright, actor, and director whose artistic enthusiasm often focuses on issues of gender, global politics, and faith. Chris’s was recently commissioned by ArtWithin Theatre in Atlanta. Her plays have been presented in New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Texas. She was a finalist in Actor's Theatre of Louisville Ten-minute play competition and she was a CITA national playwrighting contest honoree. She has received staged readings of her work by Pacific Theatre, Maeutic Theatre, and ATWAS Theatre Co. She is a member of the Oracles playwrighting group, whos plays are frequently read at the Drama Bookshop.
Heather Massie, Actor
Heather Massie has performed extensively in NYC and regionally. New York work includes: The Lamb's Theatre, Theatre Row, Metropolitan Playhouse, Jean Dalrymple Best Supporting Actress Award at ATA. Regional: Mill Mountain Playhouse, Allenberry Playhouse, Flat Rock Playhouse, Phoenix Theatre, Arizona Jewish Theatre Company, Harrisburg Shakespeare Festival, Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival, California Theatre Canter, etc. Favorite roles include: Johnny in Deadheading Roses, Rosalind in As You Like It, Ophelia in Hamlet, Jill in Equus, Sorel Bliss in Hay Fever, Rachel in Shmulnik's Waltz, Carrie in Carousel, Cinderella in Into the Woods, and Eliza in My Fair Lady. Recent flim work: Dee in Low Battery and Mrs. Harris in Playing Doctor. Upcoming work includes title roles in: Mina at La MaMa about the fantastic life of painter-poet Mina Loy; and a staged reading of My Astrid! about the live of beloved Swedish children's writer Astrid Lindgren. * Member Actors' Equity Association
Mike Lavoie, Actor
Mike is an actor, writer, and filmmaker in Brooklyn. Mike has played a variety of roles in television and on film including Riaz Patel on Into Character on AMC, Frank Prinzi on Law & Order, and Tim Van Patten on The Wire (HBO). In film he has played, Per Anderson in Stanley Cuba (Open Line Pictures), and Stephen Padilla in Little Things (A Family Affair Films). On stage Mike played Will in Deadheading Roses at the Lamb’s Theater, Carter in Walls at Altered Stages, Jason in Aloha at Victory Hall, and Charles in A Long Christmas Dinner also at Victory Hall. He is a graduate from the William Esper Acting Studio in NYC. He is a member of Strings Attached Theater Company. He founded Bull Journey Productions, and is developing an original online series, Carroll Gardens, shooting summer 2007. www.MikeLavoie.com
Andreea Mincic, Set Designer
Andreea Mincic has worked professionally in Europe and the United States. She has collaborated with the Labyrinth Theatre Company, Playwrights Horizons, the Lamb's Theater, the Womens Project, St.Ann's Warehouse, Vital Theatre Company, Children's Theatre Company, Soho Rep, Theatre for the New City, the Santa Fe Opera, Berkely Repertory Theatre, LOFT- Germany, The Place - UK, MultiArtDance Center-Romania, Monomoy Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Kansas City Repertory Theater. She has traveled a lot and her work has been presented at numerous theatre festivals and exhibitions ( Clambake – New York 2005, World Stage Design- Toronto 2005, Young Designers Forum, SETC, Buro for Off Theatre – Leipzig, Fulcrum- Prague, Aerowaves - London, Prague Quadrennial, etc.). She has studied with Ming Cho Lee. She is originally from Bucharest, Romania where she got her BFA in scenic and costume design at the University of Fine Arts (1998).
How do we react toward loved ones who refuse to change? This is the question that, Johnny, our play's protagonist is forced to answer. No one wants to answer this question in the new millennium. The permanency of the past is one thing that modern Americans dread. In an age of moral relativism we dread the thought of having to accept that which is unchanging. We exalt tolerance until we confront a behavior that we ourselves cannot tolerate. On the one hand, how do we live with ourselves if we lower our standards and compromise our convictions? On the other hand, how do we live with our own failings if we hold fast to the failings of others? Or even worse, are we that someone who refuses to listen?
