The Last Romance byJoe DiPietro
Staged reading On North Hall Stage.
Sunday August 20, 2023 – 2:00
Admission: FREE, donations accepted
Joe DiPietro’s romantic comedy with a twist about finding love at any age features the cast of three professional actors including Ellen Barry and real life husband and wife Candace Barrett Birk and Raye Birk.
The North Hall Art Gallery open during events features paintings and photography by North Hall Association board members.
Performer BIOS
Ellen Barry
Ellen Barry has appeared in nearly 100 classical and contemporary
roles in NYC and at regional theatres including the WorkShop,
Century Center, and White Horse (NYC); McCarter (NJ), New
Century and Majestic (MA), Syracuse Stage (NY), Boarshead (MI),
St. Michael’s (VT) and Southern Stage (LA). For Violet in August:
Osage County she received the NOLA Big Easy Best Leading
Actress Award; Detroit Free Press named her Best Leading Actress
for Vivian Bearing in Wit and for Ella in Ibsen’s John Gabriel Borkman
she received an Off-Off Broadway Award. Other favorite roles have
been Tennessee Williams’ Maggie, Blanche, Stella, and Hannah;
Shakespeare’s Hermione, Constance, and Juliet; Martha in Edward
Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf; Meg and Lorraine in Sam
Shepard’s A Lie of the Mind, and Katherine in Terrence McNally’s A
Perfect Ganesh. A graduate of Northwestern University, she also has
wide experience behind the scenes as stage manager, Board Chair,
development/marketing consultant and script reader for Broadway,
Off-Broadway, stock and LORT productions. Ellen and her late
husband, Paul Barry, founded the NJ Shakespeare Festival (now
Shakespeare Theatre of NJ). During their 27-year tenure, nearly 200
plays were presented, including all 38 in the Shakespeare canon and
works by other authors from Sophocles to Stoppard. Ellen is
delighted to be returning to North Hall, where her one-woman show,
Lizzie Borden at Eight O’Clock, premiered before its successful NYC
run and subsequent performances around the tri-state area. Other
North Hall appearances over many years have included another one-
woman show, The Infinite Variety of Shakespeare’s Women, and
numerous readings of a variety of plays .……………………………………………
Raye Birk
RAYE BIRK has been a professional actor for 50 years and has worked
at numerous regional theatres including the Milwaukee Rep., the Oregon
Shakespeare Festival, Yale Rep., Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, South Coast
Rep. in Costa Mesa, CA and the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. Raye is a native of
Flint, MI and his theatre training includes degrees from Northwestern University
in Evanston, IL and an MFA from the University of Minnesota. He was the
recipient of a McKnight Fellowship in graduate school and a Fox Foundation
Fellowship in 2005.
He performed for nine seasons with the American Conservatory Theatre
of San Francisco, playing leading roles in The Browning Version, The Three Sisters,
Pantagleize, Equus, Travesties, Hotel Paradiso, A Christmas Carol, A Moon for the
Misbegotten and The Taming of the Shrew. He returned to ACT for five years to
recreate his highly acclaimed performance as Scrooge in A Christmas Carol.
During the 20 years he lived in Los Angeles he appeared in nearly 150
television show, including recurring roles on LA Law, The Wonder Years, Coach,
Cheers, Silk Stalkings, Dear John, The Popcorn Kid and The Black Scorpion as well
CANDACE BARRETT BIRK
Candace Barrett Birk has been involved in many facets the professional and
academic theater community throughout her 55-year career taking on the positions of
teaching artist, administrator, director and actor. Candace is a native of Des Moines,
Iowa. She received her theater training degrees at Northwestern University in
Evanston, IL and graduate studies at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
She has been a member of several acting companies including the Milwaukee
Repertory Theatre, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the American Conservatory, Live
Action Set, Hippocrates Café, Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company, Theatre in the
Round, The Open Eye Figure Theater, the Guthrie Theater and most recently with the
Chester Theatre Company in Chester, MA.
Candace has directed productions for the Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company,
SecondWind, University of Southern California and the American Conservatory Theatre.
She has held additional positions in the arts world including Director of the Young
Conservatory at the American Conservatory Theatre (San Francisco, CA), Founder and
Director of The Academy of Theater and Media Arts (San Francisco, CA), Associate
Professor of Theatre at Southern Methodist University (Dallas, TX); Adjunct Professor of
Theatre at the University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA); and Assistant
Professor of Acting and Directing at San Francisco State University and Lead Teaching
Artist at the Guthrie Theater.
** (if you want a longer bio – add the following **paragraph here)
She is delighted to be joining her husband and her college roommate – Ellen Reiss
Barry in this production of The Last Romance.
** Other projects have included serving on numerous boards and national panels
including the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
and the National Endowment for the Humanities, directing live entertainment for
Disneyland, developing design and content for an equine theme park in Dubai,
developing the primary concept for a Peace Center in Korea and writing K-12 mythology
curriculum for the Joseph Campbell Foundation. completed a post-baccalaureate
certificate program in Integrative Therapies and Healing Therapies at the University of
Minnesota and practices health coaching at www.candacebirkcoaching.com