Karen L. Lewis

An exploration of celebrity, family, and the malleability of truth.

Following the sudden, but not entirely unexpected, death of her mother, sixteen year old Diana is sent to live with the grandmother she blames for her mother’s addiction.

With the help of her filmmaker-wannabe friend, Jordan, Diana plans to expose her once well-known grandmother for the life wrecking narcissistic bitch her mother painted her to be.

Suddenly Diana is faced with family – and self – discoveries she never expected as well as the ultimate choice: will she allow herself to become what she claims to loathe?

Blending elements of mystery, comedy and tragedy, Shades of Valor tells the compelling personal story of two young soldiers, Rick Marshall and Danny Preston, in Vietnam 1971 and their mothers, Barb and Kitty, 10 years later, as the women attempt to come to terms with the incident that blew their lives apart. The story begins in 1981 when Barb arrives a day late to crash Danny's "Welcome Home" from prison celebration only to learn that Danny has yet to show up. As the women await the arrival of the man whose actions forever changed their lives, Barb's demand for answers launches them on a difficult journey of examination, discovery and, ultimately, acceptance. Inspired by real events, Shades of Valor provides an intimate, personal exploration of military, race and class warfare as the scenes slip back and forth between the mothers in 1981 and the sons in 1971, providing the audience with knowledge of events the mothers never imagined. What is valor? Who is honorable? Can we move past the stereotypical, prejudiced assumptions that mire us in the past and reach a level of understanding that enables us to forgive, heal and move forward? Shades of Valor makes us believe we can.

To what lengths would you go to preserve a love based on delusion?

Paul and “Natalie” appear to share an ideal May/December marriage until Paul’s daughter Sarah reveals their relationship is a sham. “Natalie” is actually Paul’s other daughter Kathy; cast in the role of wife by Paul’s worsening dementia.

Kathy has managed to avoid sharing Paul’s bed. But when Sarah’s attempt to drive a wedge between them backfires, Kathy is forced to make a choice that preserves his dignity and his illusion of her as the “perfect wife”.

The Perfect Wife received The Stanley Drama Award, was an O’Neill Theatre Conference semi-finalist, one of the winners of the Actors Theatre of Charlotte’s nuVoices Play Festival, and part of The Abingdon Theatre’s Page to Stage reading series, and received a showcase production by The Ivy Theatre Company in NYC this past Spring.

While the play has a very serious core subject, its exploration of the complexities of families split by divorce provides a surprising amount of humor as well as wonderful opportunities for tour de force acting.

A new take on an old (and heretofore, unknown) crime.

1910 saw the return of Halley’s Comet, Mark Twain’s death, and heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson’s triumph over challenger “great white hope”, Jim Jeffries. Black citizens rejoiced; and, as a result, some were murdered.

The stabbing death of saloon-keeper Jim Myden wouldn’t have rated mention in the newspapers – if the killer had been male and white. But a young black woman, Florence Lovett, wielded the knife. More than news, this was an opportunity to exploit white citizens’ fears.

Myden’s wife Carrie claimed that after Florence murdering Jim in cold blood Florence attempted suicide to escape justice.

Florence swore she acted in self-defense and Carrie stabbed her for revenge.

When police asked her motive, Florence replied: “He called me nigger; and I ain’t no nigger.”

Based on a few facts and interpolating several period songs, FLORENCE AND CARRIE presents both their versions and the truth; of this incident and the time in which it occurred