Yours, Isabel: American Premiere of a War-Time Love Story
Actors Co-op Theatres, located on the grounds of First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood (1760 N. Gower St. Hollywood, CA 90028)
- Full Price:
- $30.00
- Our Price:
- $15.00*
* Additional fees apply.
All offers for Yours, Isabel have expired.
The last date listed for Yours, Isabel was Saturday March 10, 2012 / 2:30pm.
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1 Goldstar Member Review
Goldstar Member
It was a new play, letters between a couple. The two actors did their best but overall it was not very suited for the stage. The story was not dramatic enough, it was hard to really care about the characters. Not really bad but not good either, rather boring.Written on Mar 09 2012
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More Information About Yours, Isabel
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Quotes & Highlights
- "Savell’s ingenious, visually striking direction joining forces with two superb actors, a gifted young playwright, and a team of topnotch designers to create an unexpectedly powerful two-hander." --StageSceneLA
- “A nostalgic, funny, and moving memory piece." --Stage Mage
- "An affectionate look at an age when overcoming absence required more than mere email.” --Los Angeles Times
- What may be a factor of the writing, but is certainly pronounced in performance under Marianne Savell's staging on Gary Lee Reed's platform set, is the aching gulf of incomprehension as two children evolve into two adults, so that when they reunite, they barely recognize each other. Lovely, spritely performances have two forceful characters dancing their way into ennui." --LA Weekly (Go!)
Description
Christy Hall wrote Yours, Isabel after being asked to read over 100 pages of actual letters written between a husband and wife during World War II. The letters were given to Ms. Hall by a relative of the title character who thought they would make a good play. The relative had transcribed all the letters into a Word document and placed them on a CD.
“When I opened the CD I thought, what have I gotten myself into?" said Hall. "It was over six years of letters and there was a lot to think about. If I looked at someone’s emails from the last six years, there would be a lot of different themes. The same story could be told 100 different ways.”
After reading the letters, Ms. Hall allowed herself to “marinate” in them for a few months, and then found the element that really resonated was Isabel’s independence and Ms. Hall’s own personal connection to Isabel’s story.
“Isabel was very particular about her independence and managed it very carefully. I could tell her family didn’t understand her. In their minds she should just get married. I almost saw myself in these letters ... when I was 22 years old and wanted to move from a small town in Oklahoma to Los Angeles.”
As she worked on the play, Ms. Hall tried to steer away from a conventional love story. “Obviously love is involved, but there is something bigger," she said. "I wanted to celebrate the women who really answered the call during World War II and have been unrecognized for many years.”
She also has tried to depict marriage in a realistic way. “Marriage is compromise, it’s messy sometimes," she says. "True love requires everything of you. Nowadays, people tend to walk away when it’s hard. I wanted to show a relationship that is dealing with compromise in huge ways. In the end, the audience really doesn’t know what’s going to happen.”
In addition to Yours, Isabel, playwright Christy Hall collaborated with American Theatre Wing Jonathan Larson Award-winners Jeff Thomson and Jordan Mann on the musical Trails, for which she wrote the book. Trails received Los Angeles and New York productions, and was awarded the Stage Entertainment USA Development Award. A member of Actors Co-op, Ms. Hall is currently writing the book for Home, a new musical with music and lyrics by world renowned composer/lyricist Scott Alan.