Joe DiPietro’s bittersweet romantic comedy The Last Romance, centers on widower Ralph who once had ambitions to be an opera singer but got married instead. He lives with his slightly younger sister Rose – a possessive, relentless, bitter nag who is determined not to let him out of her sight. When Ralph spots the attractive, white-haired Carol at the local dog park, Ralph flirts, plays teasing games with Carol, and works hard to establish a relationship. Impressed with his love of opera, she invites him to accompany her on a trip to Italy and the fabled La Scala opera house. Needless to say, Rose is not pleased with this plan.
This heartwarming comedy about the transformative power of love mixes heartbreak with humor and opera with laughter.
The Last Romance opens at the Ivoryton Playhouse on April 22nd and runs through May 10th.Performance times are Wednesday and Sunday matinees at 2pm. Evening performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30pm, Friday and Saturday at 8pm. Tickets are $42 for adults, $37 for seniors, $20 for students and $15 for children and are available by calling the Playhouse box office at 860-767-7318 or by visiting our website at www.ivorytonplayhouse.org (Group rates are available by calling the box office for information.) The Playhouse is located at 103 Main Street in Ivoryton.
Rochelle Slovin now takes on the role of Carol Reynolds in The Last Romance at the Ivoryton Playhouse. A native New Yorker, Rochelle Slovin was educated at Cornell University and the Columbia Business School. She began her career in the 1960s as a performer in New York’s avant-garde theater, appearing often at La Mama and other off-off-Broadway venues. Following the birth of her two sons, and leaving the theatrical world, she became an organizer of Women’s Strike for Peace and then played a major role in Bella Abzug’s 1970 Congressional campaign. She entered New York City government in 1971, first working for the New York City Planning Commission and later for the Bronx Borough President. From 1976 to 1980, she was the director of the New York City CETA Artists Project, the largest publicly funded employment program for creative artists since the WPA.
In 1981 Ms. Slovin was named Founding Director of the Astoria Motion Picture and Television Foundation (a not-for-profit organization that had been established in 1977 with the goal of restoring to productive use the historic Astoria Studio complex). Upon her appointment, she proposed creating an American Museum of the Moving Image in one of the buildings on the property. She went on to develop the plans for the Museum’s mission, collection, exhibitions, programs and architecture; raised the funds necessary for its construction and operation; and assembled a distinguished staff and Board of Trustees.
With Ms. Slovin at its helm, the Museum came to prominence as the only museum in the United States, and the first museum in the world, devoted exclusively to film, television and digital media. She has expanded the Museum’s reach through off-site programs, traveling exhibitions and a content-rich website.
Museum of the Moving Image is the only institution in the U.S. that explores the art, industry and innovation of screen culture in all its forms. Embracing topics that range from 19th century optical toys to the latest Internet developments, the Museum provides insight into every phase of the production, promotion and exhibition of moving images. Engaging an international audience of all ages, Museum of the Moving Image offers a distinctive, highly interactive core exhibition; contemporary and retrospective programs of films from around the world; public discussions with leading figures in film and television; a unique collection; inspiring education programs; stimulating changing exhibitions; and groundbreaking online projects.
The Museum was granted accreditation from the American Association of Museums in 2006. On February 27, 2008, the inauguration of the Museum’s $67 million expansion and renovation was held and construction began. The museum opened its redesigned and expanded building, designed by Leeser Architecture, on January 15, 2011. “Rochelle Slovin is one of the very few individuals who have created a major New York City museum from scratch and then guided it to maturity,” Herbert Schlosser, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Museum of the Moving Image stated. “Every aspect of Museum of the Moving Image bears her stamp, from its intellectual framework to its approach to serving its many constituencies to its remarkable new physical form.”
In 1992, Ms. Slovin received the City of New York Mayor’s Award of Honor for Arts and Culture for “her leadership of an internationally recognized institution” and, in 1993, the Metropolitan Historic Structures Association honored her for “her inspired leadership in the founding of the American Museum of the Moving Image, a site of national and international cultural significance.” In 2002, Ms. Slovin and the Museum were honored by Governor George Pataki with the State of New York Governor’s Arts Award.
Ms. Slovin has lectured throughout the world on museum planning, exhibition philosophy, and the use of audiovisual media in museums. She is a former chair of the Cultural Institutions Group (comprising the 32 major City-funded cultural institutions) and a member of the Board of Directors of the Wooster Group and currently serves on the President’s Council of Cornell Women. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, the philosopher Edmund Leites.
Tony Award winner Joe DiPietro's The Last Romance, a bittersweet romantic comedy with a little Puccini and a smidgen of dog treats, opens in Ivoryton on April 22nd. Directed by Maggie McGlone Jennings, the cast includes Chet Carlin as Ralph, whose Broadway credits include Fiddler on the Roof with Theodore Bikel and the National Tour of Sir Peter Hall’s As You Like It; Kate Konigisor, the Artistic Director of Shakespeare with Benefits, as Rose and Stephen Mir as the Young Man. The set design is by William Stark, lighting design by Tate Burmeister and costumes by Vickie Blake.
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