Soap opera fans who have been dying to see some of their favorite daytime stars in action on something other than throwback episodes can look forward to an upcoming performance presented by The National Arts Club. Several familiar faces are joining together to do an online reading of one-act plays by Scott C. Sickles, best known for his award-winning work as a writer on the daytime dramas General Hospital and One Life to Live.
The soap stars who have signed on to perform Sickles' two plays, The Greater and Lesser Edmunds of the World and Persephone, include Melissa Claire Egan (Chelsea Lawson, The Young and the Restless; ex-Annie Chandler, All My Children); Christian LeBlanc (Michael Baldwin, Y&R); Beth Maitland (Traci Abbott, Y&R), Karla Mosley (ex-Maya Avant, The Bold and the Beautiful; ex-Christina Moore, Guiding Light); Tonya Pinkins (ex-Livia Frye, AMC); and Darnell Williams (ex-Jesse Hubbard, AMC).
Directed by Fritz Brekeller, the performance will take place on Thursday, July 16, at 3:00PM EST via Zoom. The online event is free to attend with registration at nationalartsclub.eventbrite.com.
The description of The Greater and Lesser Edmunds reads, "Gideon is meeting his half-brother Augie. They've met only once before, at their father's funeral... a father who kept two families at the same time. Gideon thinks he knows what Augie wants. Gideon is wrong."
Says the description of Persephone: "Helena gave up her daughter Persephone at birth. Today, they meet for the first time. It's going really well. Or at least it was..."
Sickles is a television writer who has received five consecutive Writers Guild of America Awards for the daytime drama General Hospital. He has also received seven Emmy Award nominations for his work on GH and as a writer on One Life to Live. His plays have been performed across the United States as well as internationally, and his work has earned numerous awards, including the New York Innovative Theater Award and the Beverly Hills Theater Guild/Julie Harris Playwriting Award. The writer was also a finalist for the 2018 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Drama.
Director Fritz Brekeller has worked extensively in the soap opera world and has won multiple Daytime Emmy Awards, most recently in May 2019 as part of the directing team at The Young and the Restless. He received a 2016 New York Innovative Theater award for Outstanding Direction of Sickles' Composure at the Workshop Theater.
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