SPF 12: How Grandma Met the Rat Pack
In a quiet bar, an aging flibbertigibbet recounts her (possibly apocryphal) celebrity encounters with each member of the Rat Pack. Her stories are met with encouraging acceptance from her granddaughter (who is also the bartender), and deep skepticism from her grandson, who has come to believe that his grandmother is either confused or lying.
Development
Staged reading performed as part of the Crafton Hills New Works Festival on May 9, 2020.
Greg Tulonen writes novels and screenplays, short stories and comic books, web series and audio dramas, and an occasional play. His projects include the serialized adventure novel Dr. Xivray and the Presidential Peril, the podcast soap Restless Shores, the vampire graphic novel Night Is Falling, the mystery-suspense web series Ragged Isle, the non-fiction webcomic Actual Conversations With My Sons, the one-act play Just Before the War with the Robots, and the short films On a Country Road, Sui Generis, and Derrick and Boyd. He lives in Auburn, Maine with his wife Kate and their two sons. gregtulonen.com
Road Credits: THE SPANISH PRAYER BOOK (alt. Jacob.)
Broadway credits: Tony Award-winning revival of CABARET (1998) and the premiere season of Tony Randall’s National Actors Theater (1991) THE CRUCIBLE, LITTLE HOTEL ON THE SIDE.
Other NYC credits: NY Shakespeare Festival (Central Park) in productions of RICHARD III (w/Denzel Washington) and OTHELLO (w/Raul Julia and Christopher Walken). Off-Broadway: SYLVIA (Sarah Jessica Parker) for the Manhattan Theatre Club and many off-off-Broadway productions.
Los Angeles Theatre: SNOW GEESE at the Independent Shakespeare Company Studio (2017); FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON at the Deaf West Theatre (2013); as Jacob and Jack in JACOB AND JACK at the Zephyr (2012); Gottfried in WAY TO HEAVEN (2012) at The Odyssey; STORMY WEATHER (2009) at the Pasadena Playhouse; SATURDAY NIGHT AT GROSSINGER’S (2008) at Theatre West; CHARLOTTE: LIFE OR THEATER? (2007) at The Met.
TV: More than 30 prime-time TV shows, including BLACK-ISH, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, THE MINDY PROJECT, LAW AND ORDER, CRIMINAL MINDS, SCANDAL, GREY’S ANATOMY, CASTLE and others.
Film: MIDDLE OF NOWHERE (Ava DuVernay), FIFTH OF JULY, BATTLEFIELD AMERICA and others.
Directing: Critically acclaimed productions of KING LEAR (2003) and UNCLE VANYA (2002) at the MET Theatre in Los Angeles. Other directing credits include: ON THE VERGE (NYC and Edinburgh Fringe), THE CHERRY ORCHARD, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, THE WINTER’S TALE, COMEDY OF ERRORS, MEASURE FOR MEASURE, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST, and numerous staged readings.
An acting teacher and coach, Bruce has taught workshops on the plays of Anton Chekhov in Oxford, England, in Denmark, and in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He has taught at The Yale School of Drama, Princeton, University of Scranton, The Actors Center of NY, Stella Adler (NYC and LA) and the British American Drama Academy (BADA).
MFA – Yale School of Drama (1988).
Websites: IMDB. Click here for Bruce’s personal website and here for his Secrets of Chekhov Master Classes.
“How Grandma Met the Rat Pack”
Grandma – Judith Scarpone*
Lindsey – Christine Joëlle*
Brian – Ryan Ashton*
Stage Direction – Kathy Bell Denton*
*Road Company Member