Following The Yellow Brick Road Down The Rabbit Hole
“Following the Yellow Brick Road Down the Rabbit Hole” features a breathtaking performance by Terri Campion, who plays eighteen roles, many of them “on stage” at the same time. Is there a way to have a fun and happy life and STILL get into heaven? This question is dramatically and humorously explored in Ms. Campion's remarkable One Woman Show. Recipient of the 2007 Jerry Kaufman Award for excellence in playwriting, “Following…” tells the story of Cissy, a young Catholic girl who challenges the church as she grapples with her own developing body and consciousness. Along the way, in her quest to crack the mysteries of religion and sexuality, Cissy encounters older siblings, friends, mothers, teachers and clergy all brought to life in an invigorating performance by the playwright, who seamlessly transforms from one character to another. This exciting, funny and moving solo work takes audiences on a magical journey and leaves them feeling elated and inspired.
"A lucid, lively and often amusing picture of how one girl navigates her way between heaven and earthly happiness."
New York Theatre Wire 7/18/07
"Following the Yellow Brick Road Down the Rabbit Hole" surveys the most universal of dramas - how we grow into our bodies. The play shows us that despite all the lessons of the schoolyard, the tyrants of the classroom and the church and the futile floundering of parents, we must figure out for ourselves where these bodies can take us."
Liz Karlin - Playwright
"Terri Campion's solo show is a thoughtful, delicate venturous search into a Catholic girls' growth into maturity. Depicting a variety of characters, Terri is riveting, touching and illuminating all evening long."
Aaron Frankel - Writer/Director/Teacher Author - "Writing the Broadway Musical"
Show History
Following the Yellow Brick Road Down the Rabbit Hole evolved from a series of memoirs laced in a veil of fiction. Terri dramatized two selections at Polaris North in early 2003 with the help of actor/director Joe Sicari. Later that year she premiered three selections at the Culture Project’s Women Center Stage Festival under the direction of playwright/director Bill Cosgriff. She continued to develop the work in workshop with American Renaissance Theater and in public performances in several venues including Café Fez, The Cornelia Street Café Manhattan Theatre Source, HERE, and Emerging Artists. Terri is close to completion on a collection of short stories that parallel Following...She has read these works at THE LIVING THEATER & THE TELEPHONE BAR.
She was an Artist in Residence in 9/08 with ARTWARD BOUND at EARTHDANCE with THE FIELD.
Although she is onstage alone, there are many people who helped evolve this work including playwright Liz Karlin; playwright/actor Marc Castle; director James Alexander Bond; musician Keith Johnson, producer Jeremy Handleman, Keith Blankenship who filmed the show and Tom Hubben who designed the logo and built the original website.
Show Bios
Terri Campion - Writer, Performer
Terri has performed contemporary & classic roles in NYC and regional theaters, and has written and performed stand-up and sketch comedy. She played a stage-door Mom in the Showtime Award Winning Student Film "Blind Enough to See." She studied playwriting with Milan Stitt. Her plays have been staged with several companies including New Georges, The Waterfront Ensemble, New and Jersey Rep. Her monologues and short stories have been published with Meriwether Publishing, Smith&Kraus and Greatkills Press. She works as a Teaching Artist with Music for Many - Music for Many, Sundog Theatre and Casa Queens Theater in the Park. She served as co-artistic director of American Renaissance Theater 2004-2006 and Dramaturg 2007. She is a member of Actors Equity and the Dramatists Guild.
Elowyn Castle - Director
Educated in France, England, U.S.A. and Switzerland, Elowyn Castle received a Diplôme and the Grand Prix d'Art Dramatique in performance and directing from the Conservatoire de Genève in Geneva, Switzerland. Elowyn Castle's New York off-Broadway directing credits include The Understanding for the Colleagues' Theatre Company, Happy Birthday Wanda June and Much Ado About Nothing at the Equity Library Theatre. She most recently directed Following the Yellow Brick Road….Down the Rabbit Hole in the Supported Artists Program at HERE, and a production of A Royal Mess for the Amateur Comedy Club. She directed several productions for the Lighthouse Players including Arsenic and Old Lace and Musical Comedy Murders of 1940. For the Deep Ellum Opera Theatre in Dallas she directed Birth/Day, a new musical by Neil Wolfe and Ron Troutman based on the Frankenstein story. Other credits include Loveplay at La MaMa, Two Gentlemen of Verona and Othello for The National Shakespeare Company, and a production of Cowboy Mouth at the Dubrovnik Festival in Yugoslavia.She has worked on several new plays with Works By Women and The American Renaissance Theatre Company and has served as Dramaturg for them. She served for two years as co-Artistic Director of the ARTC. She is the President of the Episcopal Actors’ Guild, a non-sectarian charity for performers of all faiths.She is a member of the SSDC, AEA, AFTRA, SAG. contact: elowyncastle@att.net.
Mindy Haywood - Choreographer
Mindy received her training from ballet master Madame Gabriela Taub-Darvash and has studied at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. She has performed and toured in numerous Broadway/Equity productions including the Metropolitan Opera's Romeo & Juliet; Stomp!; Aida; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; Sweet Charity and Chicago. Mindy has also performed nationally and internationally as a featured and ensemble company member with Jubilation!; Dance Company; Clive Thompson Dance Company and the Spoleto Festival of the Two Worlds. Contact: Msmh@aol.com