The Names

A Jewish Opera Star's Italian Aria by Paul Lewis

Live reading by Stolen Shakespeare Guild

Monday, March 20th, at 7:30 p.m.

Sanders Theatre | Fort Worth Community Arts Center

1300 Gendy St, Fort Worth 76107

Cast:

Martina Visconti- Samantha Snow

Giulia- Cheyenne Haynes

Sam- Parker Pereira

Joey- Alexander Delacruz-Nunez

Schroder- Derick Snow

Gestapo Official- Cory Carter

Stage Director- Ashley Hawkins

Director - Jule Nelson-Duac

Martina Visconti, a Jewish opera star, decides to remain in German-occupied Milan during World War II in hopes of protecting her impetuous younger sister Giulia, who has joined the Resistance. Meanwhile, an American GI in an embattled infantry unit south of Rome dreams of reaching Milan so that he can finally meet his operatic idol. A story of the bonds of love stretched to their very limits and the heart-wrenching choice one sister must make in a world that is falling into unfathomable darkness.

Playwright Bio

Paul Lewis is a Seattle-based composer and playwright. His new musical Lost in the Hills was recently workshopped by Willamette University-based Theatre 33. His staged work also includes musical adaptations of two iconic children’s books, The Runaway Bunny and Caps for Sale, both of which premiered at Boston Children’s Theatre; The Crossing, A Musical, winner of a Seattle Times Footlights Award for Promising New Work, and nominated by Seattle Theater Writers for outstanding musical composition (Theater Schmeater and Jewel Box Theatre); Jill Trent Science Sleuth (Cayuga Community College); The Bright Days of Our Youth (Bainbridge Performing Arts podcast); Oblivion (Driftwood); Wish, A Musical (23 Miles South) and The Hours of Life, A Musical (Theatre22). His musical underscoring for The Pride (Theatre22) picked up an additional music nomination from Seattle Theater Writers. Paul’s play The Names has had developmental readings at Equity Library Theatre Chicago, Atlantic Stage, FUSION, and The Field (NYC). His full-length play The Lion in the Snow Globe will receive a staged reading at The Sauk in 2023. Paul’s one-act plays have been staged at play festivals across the country and in Canada, Mexico, and the UK, winning Best of Festival awards in a number of these; and they have been published in Best Ten-Minute Play and Best Stage Monologue anthologies, published by Smith & Kraus. He is a member of BMI and The Dramatists Guild of America.