CALL ME WILLIAM
The Life and Loves of Willa Cather
by Prudence Wright Holmes
directed by Nora Deveau Rosen
In 1888, Willa Cather astounded her Nebraska neighbors with her brilliant mind and unconventional, cross-dressing ways. She said that "being a girl never damaged her ambition to become Pope or Emperor." She had a successful career in publishing, wrote best-selling novels like My Antonia and Death Comes for the Archbishop, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1923.
In spite of her success, her romantic life was fraught with conflict. Her work became her refuge and helped her to transcend the problems that beset her. As she often said,"That is happiness, to be dissolved in something complete and great."
Reviews:
"You're in the hands of a master storyteller" Associated Press
"Prudence Wright Holmes is outstanding" Backstage.
"Call Me William by Prudence Wright Holmes was a glorious treatment of the private life of legendary authoress Willa Cather.” -- Andrew Martin, www.nitelifeexchange.com
Actor Bio:
Prudence Wright Holmes has appeared in featured roles in the films Sister Act I and II with Whoopi Goldberg, Kingpin with Woody Harrelson, In Dreams with Annette Bening, My Own Love Song with Renee Zellweger, After.Life with Liam Neeson and Boardwalk Empire with Steve Buscemi. On Broadway she appeared in Happy End with Meryl Streep, Lettice and Lovage with Maggie Smith and Inherit the Wind with George C. Scott and The Light in the Piazza at Lincoln Center and on the National Tour. She has appeared in numerous off-Broadway shows including the original casts of Godspell and Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You. She wrote and performed her solo show Bexley, OH! at New York Theatre Workshop. In 2012 she published a memoir Dr. Sam is Under Your Bed, expanding on Bexley, OH!
She is the author of the books Monologue Mastery, The Voice and Speech Warm Up and Workout and Voices of Thinking Jewish Women. She also wrote the plays Call Me William, The Life and Loves of Willa Cather, Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker, Sister Girl, and co-wrote Beat Chick with Joanne Joseph.
CONTACT
E-mail: prudenceholmes@hotmail.com
Cell: 917-723-0164
More about Prudence and her Writing: http://prudenceswriting.com
Past Performances:
May 14, 2013, Rye Library, Rye, NY
May 5, 2013, Squirrel Hill Library, Pittsburgh, PA
March 26, 2013, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC
March 15, 2013, The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, New York
February 1, 2013, The Elmont Library, New York
January 26, 2013, Creating Change, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Conference, Atlanta GA
December 2012, Montauk Library, New York
October 2012, Somers Library, New York
July 2012, Mohonk Mountain House, New York
May 2012, Long Beach Library, New York
March 2012, East Meadow Library, New York
June, 2011, Battery Park City Library, New York
June 2011, St. Agnes Library, New York
June 2011, St. George Library, New York
February 2011, The Jefferson Market Library, New York
December 2010, The Twelfth Night Club, New York
November 2010, The Bloomingdale Library, New York
October 2010, Urban Stages Theater, New York
July 21-30 2010, Cherry Lane Theater, New York