Cast & Crew Bios

The Play is a Finalist for 2004 Oregon Book Award: Angus L. Bowmer Award for Drama, Given by Literary Arts

Picture yourself in New York in 1920. The Great War is over, and people are hungry to live again-to laugh, dance, be gay. Nobody laughed more than the fascinating people who gathered daily at the Round Table at the Algonquin Hotel in New York's theatre district. Writers Alexander Woollcott, Robert Benchley, Dorothy Parker, Robert Sherwood, Marc Connelly, George S. Kaufman, Edna Ferber, Heywood Broun, Franklin Pierce Adams, Harold Ross, Jane Grant, artist Neysa McMein and various friends, lovers and associates lunched daily and met again in the evenings for parties and poker for nearly ten years. 

During the course of this "ten-year lunch," many of the group gained fame and fortune as newspaper columnists, magazine writers and editors, book, theatre and movie reviewers, novelists, illustrators, playwrights and poets. The Table became famous, and its habitués' bon mots were widely quoted. Harold Ross launched The New Yorker during this time, drawing on many of the talents at the Table. Critics of the Table and its members' output have charged that Round Tablers lived too hard and drank too much; they've also claimed that the group was long on attitude and short on intellectual depth.

Perhaps there is a degree of truth to this, but taken as a whole the Algonquin Round Table was an extraordinary accumulation of talent and ambition which altered American culture forever, partly by redefining American humor, partly by devotion to high standards, and most importantly by the lasting, pervasive influence members had on the colloquial tongue, several art forms, and other artists. Core Round Tablers racked up Pulitzers, invented new literary genres (most particularly movie reviewing), became stars in the early mediums of radio and moving pictures, and devised parlor games still played today.

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Vitriol and Violets, written by Oregon writers Shelly Lipkin, Louanne Moldovan and Sherry Lamoreaux, is a finalist for a 2004 Oregon Book Award, the Angus L. Bowmer Award for Drama, given by Literary Arts.

Shelly Lipkin, co-artistic director for Cygnet Productions from 2000 to 2003, conceived and co-authored "Vitriol and Violets." His new play, "Sylver Beaches", explores the expatriate writers of 1920 Paris and their haven within the famous bookstore Shakespeare and Company. Shelly has performed and directed at numerous regional theatres across the country.

Louanne Moldovan, founder and artistic director of Cygnet Productions, has directed and produced over 25 shows for Cygnet since founding it in 1992. She works as an actor, director, writer and casting director for Portland, Oregon theatre, film and TV production companies, as she did in LA previously. 

Sherry Lamoreaux is a writer and editor who has written stories about alternative health treatments for WebMD and  Intel, and had articles published on CNN.net.  She has been in marketing communications for high tech companies, and now works for Swan Island Networks.  She is working on a new play.

Vitriol and Violets is directed by Louanne Moldovan. The cast includes Don Alder, Nancy Benner, Dave Bodin, Jane Ferguson, Shelly Lipkin, John Morrison, Vana O'Brien, Laura Faye Smith, Michael Teufel and Wendy Westerwelle.

Stage design for Vitriol and Violets is by Chris Whitten, lighting design is by Kurt Herman, properties are by Sandy Shaner and Jim Crino, costume design is by Maria Ferrin, sound design is by Alan Garren, the stage manager is Jim Crino and the producer is Kay Vega.

HISTORY OF THE PLAY

How Vitriol and Violets: Tales From the Algonquin Round Table came to be written

In spring 2001, Louanne Moldovan and Shelly Lipkin, co-artistic directors of Cygnet Productions (well known as Portland, Oregon's literary cabaret) were considering the 2001-2002 season.  Company member Vana O'Brien brought in a collection of Dorothy Parker's short stories, and suggested adapting one for the stage.  Louanne was very familiar with Parker's work, and often adapts short stories and other forms of literature to the stage; she realized the company could do this well.  Shelly took the book home to read, did some research on Parker, and began to consider whether there wasn't a larger story to tell-the story of the writers of the Algonquin Round Table, of which Dorothy Parker was a key member.  A bit more research on other members of the Table and Shelly was convinced.

Louanne thought the idea held great dramatic promise.  The two invited Sherry Lamoreaux, Cygnet publicist, to join them in creating the work.

For six months the three read everything they could get their hands on about the Round Table, its members and the times they lived in.  Then they began to write, storyboarding as they went, knowing full well how likely it was to change shape once the very literate Cygnet actors got the play on its feet.  Four months later the Cygnet Company began rehearsals.  The play changed daily, and was cut by a full third one week before opening night.

The production was done "on book," with the actors performing (costumed and blocked, with props) while holding scripts.  This allowed the trio of writers to continue rewriting the play throughout the production.  (We agree with George S. Kaufman, who said, "Plays aren't written-they're rewritten.")  The play opened to solid reviews and sold out nightly for its four-week run.

After seeing the staged reading, Lakewood Theatre Company Executive Producer Kay Vega, approached Cygnet Productions with the idea of presenting a fully staged version of the show in Lakewood's 2004-05 season. After another series of minor rewrites, Vitriol and Violets is being given a fully staged production, with Lakewood Theatre Company and Cygnet Productions as co-producers, Nov. 5 - Dec. 12, 2004.

Production history:

April 26-May 18 2002, Cygnet Productions, the Russell Street Theatre, Portland, Oregon
November 5 - December 12, 2004, Cygnet Productions and Lakewood Theatre Company, Lakewood Theatre, Lake Oswego, Oregon