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Winner - Best Drama, Best New Work, and more! ~ 2015 Broadway World Awards - NJ 
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Production Dates
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Winner - Best Drama, Best New Work, and more! ~ 2015 Broadway World Awards - NJ
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Production Dates
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Angels and Ministers of Grace ran in a highly successful limited engagement at New Jersey Rep, from October 23 through November 23, 2014.
 Elaine Smith* (Playwright)
*Winner - BEST DRAMA (PROFESSIONAL) and BEST NEW WORK (PROFESSIONAL) - 2015 Broadway World New Jersey Awards
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 Marc Geller* (Director)
* Winner - BEST DIRECTOR - DRAMA (PROFESSIONAL) - 2015 Broadway World New Jersey Awards
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 Dana Benningfield* (Miriam)
* Winner - BEST THEATER COMPANY (ENSEMBLE) - 2015 Broadway World New Jersey Awards
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 James Earley (Frank)
* Winner - BEST THEATER COMPANY (ENSEMBLE) - 2015 Broadway World New Jersey Awards |
 Maureen Silliman* (Arletta)
* Winner - BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA (PROFESSIONAL) and BEST THEATER COMPANY (ENSEMBLE) - 2015 Broadway World New Jersey Awards
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 David Van Pelt* (Jimmy Ray)
* Winner - BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA (PROFESSIONAL) and BEST THEATER COMPANY (ENSEMBLE) - 2015 Broadway World New Jersey Awards
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"Angels and Ministers of Grace immensely satisfying at NJ Rep in Long Branch...
an extraordinarily uncommon knack for dialogue and character...a promising start to
what will certainly be a unique voice in American Theater." -- New Jersey Footlights "The play is an emotional journey but it is also laced with humorous and sincere moments that every family can relate to. Bring your friends and see it. It is a piece of theater you will reflect upon again and again." -- Broadway World "And then, in the final scenes of Angels, something curious happened--the thing that you hope will happen when you go to the theater." -- NY Theater Now "Ms. Smith's writing captures the cadences of backwoods Florida folk in this well-crafted play. She understands the importance of the spaces between the words and creates empathetic characters that audiences recognize and root for." --StageBuddy "An intriguing hand at work...a wordsmith to watch...climactic, cathartic...well acted...worth the wait." -- Asbury Park Press "Deeply satisfying..." -- Tri City News "I urge you to let them tell you their story." -- Front Row Center Broadway World interview with the playwright |
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Penobscot Theatre Company selected Angels. . . in June 2012 for inclusion in the Northern Writes New Works Festival in Bangor, Maine, where it received the great gift of three public readings with development time in between presentations. Directed by Marcia Douglas, the play was read by Julie Lisnet, Katie Toole, Randy Hunt and Arthur Morrison.
Theatre Resources Unlimited and Wild Bird Productions (Meredith Lucio) presented a staged reading of Angels. . . in June 2010 as part of the TRU Voices Series. Directed by Kim Weild, the cast included Jana Robbins, Kate Skinner, David Van Pelt and Michel Gill.
In July 2009, the play was read by Deean Halper,
Diane Prusha,
James Barry and
Kale Browne under the direction of Julia Harmon Cain at the Berkshire Theatre Festival, one of the oldest professional regional theatres in the United States--81 years and counting!
The BoarsHead Theater in Lansing, MI mounted a reading in September of 2008, just after the play was awarded second prize in the 2008 Appalachian Festival of Plays &
Playwrights at the Barter Theatre in Virginia. There it was one of six plays
given a public reading by
Evalyn Baron, Mary Lucy Bivins, Ezra Colon and Michael Poisson, members of the Barter's resident company, in early August. Devan Stevans directed.
In addition, Linda Hamilton's wonderful performance and generous participation in a staged reading of Angels. . . at New Jersey Repertory in January 2008 make her Angel of the Year!
Linda's credits include the blockbuster films Dante's Peak, The Terminator, and
Terminator 2, as well as TV's critically-acclaimed series, Beauty and the Beast. Most recently, she has
delighted theatre audiences as Maxine in Tennessee Williams' Night of the Iguana and Nurse Ratched in Ken Kesey's
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at the Berkshire Theatre Festival.
Lending their extraordinary talents to the reading at New Jersey Rep: actors Linda Hamilton, Diane Prusha, David Van Pelt, Al Mohrmann, and director Rob Garber. (To see headshots and bios, please click on the individual names.)
The play was previously read at Abingdon Theatre Company in New York City with Donna Robinson, Melanie Boland, David Van Pelt and Gerry Birnbach under the direction of Jocelyn Sawyer.
With a sister who can't keep her craft angels corralled, a brother who can't seem to make good, and an ex-husband who can't quite give up on her, it's way past time for Miriam to unravel her eccentric family's tangled problems once and for all. But when current crises collide with long buried secrets, even the angels can't keep all hell from breaking loose!
2W/2M - Running time 90 minutes - Single Unit Set
Elaine Smith is a playwright, actor, director whose plays include Angels and Ministers of Grace and The Looking Glass (adapted from a short story by Edith Wharton, produced in 2013 by The Wharton Salon). Short plays: Liar's Poker (2010 Finalist: Heideman Award, Actors Theatre of Louisville), Ten Minute Life (2014 production, The Arts Center, NC), Picture Perfect, She Hung Up, Carapace, Strange Flowers of Reason, Quis Custodiet, Agit-Prop 8, Darkness, and Handiwork. Works-in-progress: Three Mile Limit and PowerPlay.
Acting credits include Rachel in the independent feature Frank the Rat, directed by Jim Cozza, Suzanne in Their Wings Were Blue at the NY Fringe Festival, Angie in Jovanka Bach's Name Day for Immigrants Theatre Project, Suzanna in Vaclav Havel's Largo Desolato also for ITP, Vera in Peter Herrick's Fiction Only, Please at Abingdon Theatre Company, Carole Cutrere in Williams' Orpheus Descending at Seaview Playwright's Theatre, Judith in Shaw's The Devil's Disciple at Seaview, and Jessie in Marsha Norman's 'night, Mother for NEST.
Directing credits include Abingdon Theatre Company, New Dramatists, Lincoln Center Institute, Women's Projects & Productions, and Immigrants' Theatre Project, among other venues.
In addition, Elaine has been a script reader for the Princess Grace Awards and for WPP. She has a Master's Degree in Theatre from the University of Denver, a B.A. in Theatre from the University of Delaware, has served on the Board of Directors for Women in Theatre, and is a member of Theatre Resources Unlimited (TRU), the League of Professional Theatre Women, SAG-AFTRA, AEA, and the Dramatists Guild.
For additional information, see ElaineSmithWrites.com
Long before a play finds its way onto a stage, it is nurtured and supported by a host of people, many of whom never receive any remuneration beyond the grateful thanks of the playwright. The people listed below have offered their advice, their services, and their support, and they have extended themselves in truly amazing ways to help bring this piece this far.
Their contributions far outweigh my ability to thank them, but I list them here, alphabetically, in insufficient acknowledgement of my gratitude for everything they have done. Here they are, angels all: