One Woman "Waiting Room"
Makes World Premiere at Central Square

Deborah Henson-Conant will star in the World Premiere of her new one woman cabaret-style show, “What the Hell are You Doing in the Waiting Room for Heaven??,” at the new Central Square Theater in Cambridge. Performance dates are August 13 - 23. The production is directed by Wesley Savick.

After life comes...tryouts? “What the Hell...??” takes us to the waiting room of Heaven where they’re looking for a few new members of the Celestial Choir. However, getting in won’t be easy. Auditions are more like “American Idol,” and Elvis is on the judges’ panel.

In this world premiere, Henson-Conant plays Heaven-bound casting coach Aubrey Giles, determined to get her group of Heavenly wannabes (the audience) into the choir: the coveted position in the Ultimate Reality Game Show. Aubrey’s own personal demons enter the action when she realizes she’s aching to claim the prize herself. And tonight is her last chance to win.

“What the Hell...??” offers Henson-Conant’s unique brand of cabaret-style theater combining story, music, theater, humor and audience interaction. The result is a one-woman show with a cast as big as the audience and a message of transformation.

Deborah Henson-Conant (at left) is a Grammy-nominated performer best-known as the world’s preeminent electric harpist. Her recent PBS music special, “Invention & Alchemy,” was also nominated for a 2007 Grammy Award.

Her early career was primarily as a playwright/composer whose musical-theater work won grants and awards from “Meet the Composer” to the prestigious Massachusetts Artists Fellowship. She shifted focus to performing in the 90’s when she landed a major recording contract with the GRP jazz label and started touring internationally – including a stint as soloist with the Boston Pops, opening for Ray Charles at Tanglewood and jamming on and off stage with artists ranging from Bobby McFerrin to Aerosmith's Steven Tyler. She’s also been featured on "CBS Sunday Morning,” NBC's “Today,” NPR's “Weekend Edition" and in The New York Times.

She commented, “Music-theater is my real love. I wrote my first musical when I was 12, and I’ve waited over 30 years to get to this show!” “What the Hell...??” was developed in the Advanced Writer’s Lab of the New Opera and Musical Theater Initiative.

A tenured Associate Professor of Theatre at Suffolk University, Wesley Savick has served as Artistic Director of the internationally acclaimed experimental company “Theatre X” in Milwaukee, as Interim Artistic Director of the Drama League of New York’s Director’s Project, as Artistic Associate of Chicago’s Organic Theatre and as Resident Guest Director of the DARTS/Subaru Theatre in Tokyo, Japan. Savick has directed or acted in over seventy professional productions, almost all new works, including world premieres by Christopher Durang, Shel Silverstein, Derek Walcott, Howard Zinn, Robert Brustein – and now Deborah Henson-Conant. He’s also written, co-written or adapted seventeen produced plays, including an opera libretto based on the life of Liberace. Two of his plays have been nominated for Best New Play Awards from the National Theatre Critics’ Association.

For tickets, call 866-811-4111 or visit www.CentralSquareTheater.org.

-- OnStage Boston

Photo: S. Zand

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