Local resident, Liz Cole, is directing and plays the title role in Vesta
The Hoffman Center will present a staged reading of Bryan Harnetiaux’s play VESTA, with local resident and national actor Liz Cole directing and acting in the title role. The play will be held at 7:30pm on Friday, May 14 at the Hoffman Center in Manzanita. Admission is $10. Listen to an interview with Liz Cole on KTIL about Vesta and Hoffman Center, on KTIL May 12.
VESTA is an intimate 90-minute drama that examines with humor and warmth an ordinary family’s struggle with end-of-life issues. The title character, Vesta Pierson, is a grandmother confronting her inexorable loss of independence as her health declines. Together, Vesta, her daughter, and granddaughter face a series of complex medical, economic, and personal issues associated with this challenging time of life.
VESTA received its first professional production in 2008 at the Capitol Hill Arts Center (CHAC) in Seattle, where it received wide critical acclaim. Currently Duke University’s Institute on Care at the End of Life licenses the play in the clinical world.
The Friday night reading will be directed by Manzanita resident Liz Cole, who will also read the title role. Liz Cole, whose professional name is Megan, has enjoyed a career that has taken her to repertory theaters across the United States. Perhaps most famously, she created the role of Vivian Bearing in the original stage productions of WIT for which she was awarded the L.A. Drama Critics’ Circle Award and the DramaLogue Award. Television credits include Seinfeld, The Practice, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek:Deep Space Nine, L.A.Law and ER, among others. For more information and a link to a demo video, go to megancole.net.
On Saturday, May 15, Bryan Harnetiaux, the playwright of Vesta, will present both a playwriting workshop and reading as part of the Manzanita Writers’ Series May Event.