Photograph by Laura Rose
Eve's Diary

Performance Description Production History Audience Appeal Performance Sites Reviews Cost Biographies Technical Information

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

In his writing, Mark Twain often revisited the Garden of Eden, imagining the very first couple's exploration of the Earth. All that we now take for granted is a mystery--every beast, every plant, every scientific certainty a wonder to be discovered.

Twain's Eve is eternally questioning, her passion for learning matched only by her love for Adam. From her first sighting of him ("It had no hips; it tapered like a carrot!") to her profound examination of a centuries-long devotion, Eve is Child and Woman both unique and universal.

In this witty and poignant monologue, adaptor Gayle Stahlhuth ingeniously interweaves highlights of several Twain stories and essays--including Eve's Diary, Extract from Eve's Diary, and Papers of the Adam's Family--setting them "A long time ago, in Heaven."

Eve's Diary can be presented by itself (35 minutes), or with Someone Must Wash the Dishes (25 minutes) in a double bill with intermission, called The Rib Speaks Out. The Diary is performed as a concert reading, in simple contemporary costume (no furs or fig leaves), and is easily adapted to most schedules and situations, including the classroom. Introductory remarks and/or post-performance question-answer period expand its total length to 45 or 50 minutes.

Groups in the New York City area and throughout New Jersey: To book this adaptation of Eve's Diary, contact actress-adaptor Gayle Stahlhuth, who has sole performance rights in those locations. Find her at the East Lynne Theater Company: eastlynntheater.org.

AUDIENCE APPEAL:

High school, college, and university classes in American literature, history, family/marriage, women's studies, and religion; also historical and literary societies, libraries; museums, women's and book clubs, and bereavement groups.

PRODUCTION HISTORY:

Mark Twain wrote his stories of Adam and Eve between 1887 and 1905--his last encounter with Eve being profoundly affected, if not effected, by the death of his devoted wife, Olivia, in '04. Actress-writer Gayle Stahlhuth premiered her lovingly researched adaptation a century later, in 1995, at New York City's Womenkind V Festival. She continues to perform the Diary on the road, under the aegis of the East Lynne Theater Company.

In 1999 Stahlhuth granted Michèle LaRue permission to tour with the script, which LaRue first performed at New York's Mohonk Mountain House, in tribute to her own late husband, Warren Kliewer.

Eve's Diary

PERFORMANCE SITES AND SPONSORS:


Eve's Diary

REVIEWS:

"Twain's loving, generous, teasing Eve shows all the familiarity with her husband's flaws that you'd expect in a marriage of several hundred years. And Michèle LaRue, in an actor's tour de force, brings her radiantly to life."

"It was a pleasure to work with you. The program was wonderful! Your blend of humor and touching moments was perfect."

--Emily Rowe, Special Events, Missouri Historical Society

St. Louis, Missouri

"In Eve's DiaryMichèle La Rue skillfully protrays both Twain's timeless humor and his wisdom. LaRue's Eve invites us to ponder with her the tender yet tough bonds of love that grow between man and woman, parent and child, bonds that can withstand the mysteries of human evil, suffering and death. An excellent vehicle to start individuals and groups thinking and talking."

--Rev. Mary Ellen Summerville, M. Div., LCSW

Chaplain, Hospice Care of Westchester and Putnam

"LaRue fashions an Eve for all seasons--a sometimes melancholy, often comic, and even petulant First Lady--subtly moving her from silly innocence to a mature woman who discovers death, grief, and finally love."

"In this engaging performance, Michèle LaRue transcends our traditional view of Eve. The actress vibrantly embodies Twain's multidimensional heroine, bringing to life his vivid, insightful perspective and showcasing his brilliantly satiric, skillful prose."

--Dr. Barbara H. Solomon, Director of Writing, Iona College

New Rochelle, New York

"Witty and poignant."

--The Newberry Library

Chicago, Illinois

Full-length copies of reviews and comments are available, as are references.

COST:

$250 plus transportation for the actress, and lodging when necessary.

The Rib Speaks Out (a double bill comprising An Anti-Suffrage Monologue and Eve's Diary): $500, plus transportation for the actress, and lodging when necessary.

For all her productions, the actress provides publicity and marketing materials, including photos and press release template; and a program ("playbill") master.

BIOGRAPHIES:

MICHÈLE LARUE, ACTRESS (AEA, SAG, AFTRA): tours nationally with several one-woman plays--Eve's Diary (Gayle Stahlhuth's adaptation of several Mark Twain stories), The Yellow Wallpaper (dramatized and directed by Warren Kliewer from Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 1890 feminist horror story), Someone Must Wash the Dishes: An Anti-Suffrage Monologue (Marie Jenney Howe's 1912 satirical lecture), Places, Please, Act One, Kliewer's vibrant "poems around and about theatres," and a varied repertoire of American short stories written at the turn of the previous century. She has played over 200 performances of these productions in 12 states, from Maine to Oklahoma, Minnesota to Virginia.

LaRue also "plays well with others" and in New York City has performed at New Dramatists, The Actors Studio, the Harold Clurman Theatre, Theatre at St. Clements, The Lark Theatre Company, and others. Roles in Manhattan have ranged from Agatha, the free spirit who propels Jennifer Camp's new Key West; to Katherine, who struggles through Robert Anderson's poignant Silent Night, Lonely Night. Off-Off Broadway LaRue created Irene, a bereaved but feisty bag lady, in Michael Bruck's Encounters in Passaic; and, for Equity Library Theatre, Dinah, the bitter indentured servant in A New England Legend (adapted by Estelle Ritchie from Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter).

In Pennsylvania theatre, LaRue's credits range from Ellie May (Tobacco Road) at the Fulton Opera House, Lancaster; to Viola (Twelfth Night) at the Bucks County Playhouse; to both Polly Garter and Myfanwy Price (Under Milk Wood) at the Actors' Company of Pennsylvania. Her work with The East Lynne Company fostered a love for 19th-century American theatre and history, and has nurtured her passion for rich language. LaRue has starred for East Lynne in lost classics (William Dean Howells' Bride Roses), adaptations (Henry James' The Beast in the Jungle), and newly created works exploring our past (Bruce Cutler's two-character verse drama A Brave Man's Part). She is an active member of New Jersey Repertory Company, Long Branch, where she has performed in several new scripts. Most recently in New Jersey she created the role of agoraphobic Inga in a brand-new play: Centenary Stage Company's world premiere of Poetry of Pizza, by Deborah Brevoort.

A native of northern Illinois, LaRue graduated with a major in Acting from the University of Kansas, and subsequently moved to Princeton, New Jersey, where she played Julia in G. B. Shaw's The Philanderer, at the University's Theatre Intime. Her first professional engagement--a two-person musical revue--played 230 performances in four months, at schools throughout Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Missouri.

LaRue belongs to the three major actors' unions: Actors' Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, and AFTRA. Offstage, she is a well-respected theatre writer and editor, and a member of Drama Desk, an organization of New York drama critics. She was married to and collaborated with Warren Kliewer, onstage and off, for more than 25 years.


CLIFF GOODWIN,DIRECTOR: began his career in Washington, D.C., in the film documentary unit of ABC-TV News. As a staff writer-producer, he received an Emmy nomination for programming in public affairs. Moving to New York, he turned to acting and for several years played major roles on Guiding Light, As the World Turns, and The Edge of Night.

In the late '60s Goodwin joined the noted New Dramatists, Inc. as Program Director. There, over a six-year period, he produced workshop stagings of more than 150 new American plays, including works by Paddy Chayevsky, William Gibson, John Guare, Lanford Wilson, Joe Masteroff, June Havoc, Megan Terry, and Maria Irene Fornes--and ranging from A Lion in Winter to Cabaret. He developed an informal pool of young, unknown New York actors who donated their talents to these productions. Among them were Al Pacino, Gloria Foster, Christopher Walken, Clarence Williams III, Robert De Niro, James Earl Jones, Jill Clayburgh, John Travolta, Linda Lavin, and Bette Midler.

Leaving New York, Goodwin joined the National Endowment for the Humanities' National Humanities Series, working with Resident Director Warren Kliewer. Touring small-town America for four years, Goodwin taught, lectured, and conducted workshops in more than 200 towns in 44 states.

As a director, Goodwin staged the New York premieres of Carole Thompson's Carrie, Clifford Mason's Midnight Special, Aldo Giunta's The Partnership; and the revivals of Stephen Tesich's The Carpenters, Eric Bentley's Brecht on Brecht, and Warren Kliewer's The Berserkers. In regional theatre, Goodwin directed Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice in Pennsylvania, Jean Anouilh's The Lark in Georgia, Sophocles' Antigone in California, and others.

Goodwin has been an artist-in-residence at colleges and universities throughout the U.S., among them, Stanford University, American University, The University of Alabama, The University of West Florida, Gettysburg College, and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Currently he conducts private classes in Shakespearean acting and audition techniques. In New York City, he has served as a script consultant to the Circle Repertory Company, The Pilgrim Project, and Primary Stages.

Goodwin's recent New York directing assignments have included Cynthia Cooper's How She Played the Game for Primary Stages, and Arthur Whitney's Mademoiselle on Theatre Row.


GAYLE STAHLHUTH, PLAYWRIGHT: has been East Lynne Theater Company's artistic director since 1999, and as such, has directed most of ELTC's productions, including The New York Idea and The O'Tooles Tonight!, which she wrote based on American musicals written before 1900. She also wrote Tales by Twain, which was produced at New Jersey's Surflight Theatre as well as at ELTC. Other places her work has been produced include Manhattan Theatre Club, The Smithsonian Institution, Pennsylvania Stage, and The Arvada Center in Denver. As a performer, she's appeared in Off-Broadway, regional, and touring productions, and on the Chautauqua circuit. She premiered Eve's Diaryat New York City's Womenkind V Festival in March 1995, and continues to perform it. Other of her one-person plays include Lou: The Remarkable Miss Alcott and Fabulous Ferber--about, respectively, Louisa May Alcott and Edna Ferber.


EAST LYNNE THEATER COMPANY: When The East Lynne Company was founded in 1980, as an Equity professional not-for-profit, it was the first in the country dedicated to the performance and promulgation of earlier American plays and theatrical tradition. Today known as the East Lynne Theater Company, it takes pride in providing theatre-goers, actors, and directors the experience of seeing and working on plays and literature written by or adapted from early American masters.

The name "East Lynne" derives from a famously popular American play that was performed throughout the country during the last half of the 1800s. The ELTC's wide-ranging production history includes more than seventy classic American plays, dating from as early as 1788's The Politician Out-witted (a world premiere), and has showcased writers ranging from Washington Irving to Rachel Crothers, Ira Aldridge to William Dean Howells.

East Lynne's artist-in-residence programs teach students acting, playwriting, and production, focusing primarily on American history and literature. The company gives voice to the current professional generation of playwrights by yearly producing a world- or New Jersey-premiere musical or play based on American theatre history or literature. Several ELTC premieres have gone on to other stages. More than 10,000 audience members annually attend shows during ELTC's Cape May, New Jersey, season, and on the road. In 1996, Ohio State University honored ELTC by offering to house the company's archives at The Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute.

Theatre-goers experiencing East Lynne's productions witness the company's engaging perspective on and unique contribution to American theatre. During the Cape May performing season, ELTC is in residence at The First Presbyterian Church of Cape May, 500 Hughes St. For information, contact the office at 121 Fourth Ave., West Cape May, NJ  08204, call 609-884-5898, or go online at eastlynnetheater.org.

Eve's Diary

TECHNICAL INFORMATION:

STAGING INFORMATION AND TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

Eve's Diary requires an acting area of at least 8' x 12'. It is, however, thoroughly adaptable to non-performance spaces like meeting or banquet halls, large living rooms, and church basements.

Lighting:

General illumination for informal venues. Somewhat more sophisticated lighting is desirable for theatres. (A cue sheet will be provided.)

Backstage:

A single dressing room (may be temporary)

Running Time:

One hour, fifteen minutes, including intermission.

Props and Set Decoration:

The sponsor is asked to provide a simple stable music stand which can be adjusted for height and angle. (E.g., a standard high school band stand is fine; a lightweight collapsible stand is not.)*

Backstage Assistance:

The sponsor is asked to provide one person familiar with the performance and backstage areas, and with our stage and prop requirements above.

Arrival Time:

Generally the actress arrives one and one-half hours prior to performance time.

The Rib Speaks Out

a double bill

of

Someone Must Wash the Dishes

— Eve's Diary – 
 

TECHNICAL INFORMATION:

STAGING INFORMATION AND TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

Stage Requirements:

The Rib Speaks Out requires an acting area of at least 8' x 12'. It is, however, adaptable to non-performance spaces like meeting, banquet, and lecture halls, or church basements. 

Running Time:

  Approximately 1 hour, 10 minutes, including intermission. 

Lighting:

  For informal venues: General illumination. A simple off-on switch is acceptable, but a dimmer is preferred.

  For theatres: Somewhat more sophisticated lighting is desirable for the Eve's Diary segment. (A cue sheet will be provided.) 

Props and Set Decoration:

The Sponsor is asked to provide:

Sound:

The Sponsor is asked to provide a cassette tape recorder and sound system for pre-show and intermission music.

The Sponsor should determine with the actress whether or not she will need sound amplification. A lavaliere mike is required for large or acoustically problematic venues. 

Dressing Room:

The Sponsor is asked to provide a room (preferably private, secure, and near the performance area) in which the actress can prepare for the performance. Ideally a restroom will be close by. 

Backstage Assistance:

The Sponsor is asked to provide one person familiar with the performance and backstage areas, and with the stage and prop requirements listed above. He/she will control lights and sound, move props at intermission, and liaise with the actress and house manager.

Arrival Time:

  For this production the actress arrives at least two hours prior to curtain.

How to book or attend a performance.
Photo: Carl Wallnau, The Poetry of Pizza