A New Play By Felix Racelis
& Meeting Updates!
Hello and thanks for visiting! Our long time member Felix Racelis has written a new play which is having it's world premier starting August 13th at the Ruby Theater in Hollywood for four weeks. For full information and how to buy tickets please visit their website below. Ticket prices are very reasonable but they do offer group discounts for 10 or more if anyone wants to get a group together. Also below are some upcoming meeting updates so please mark your calendars! See you soon...
Taken from their website:
AS STRAW BEFORE THE WIND recounts the story of Nene Santos, a Filipina nurse and
enterprising owner/operator, of a fictionalized San Gabriel Valley convalescent
home. Nene has ambitious plans to expand her business, which she intends to
leave to her daughter and primary assistant, Pilita, who has her own agenda.
So, what will become of the elderly and fragile resident patients of the
convalescent home –
Poncing Enrile, a retired Filipino American Army Captain, and Mildred Novak, a
chain smoking retiree widow with Alzheimer’s Disease? Nene confronts a string
of setbacks and obstacles in her quest. Flashbacks of the horrendous experience
she and her family endured during WWII haunt her psyche and lead to a
revelation of a long kept family secret.
“This is a very personal story for me, having grown up with survivors of World
War II,” notes playwright Felix Racelis. “The majority of the women in my family, including my
mother, were nurses, and one of my mother’s best friends was one of the nurses
stationed on the island of Corregidor during the Battle of Corregidor in 1942.
‘Nene’ is a composite character of many of these courageous women who survived
the ordeal of the war, and who lived their lives with grace and stoicism. All
of them are now departed. Their memories and spirit continue to both haunt and
inspire me. As a playwright it’s important for me to bring these stories to the
stage and to a universal audience.”
“What you will see on stage is a series of wars: a war between a mother and a
daughter, between a convalescent home owner and a patient, between a loan
officer and a potential borrower, and between the past and the present,” says
director Lesley Asistio.
Upcoming Meetings! Mark your calendars and please note meeting changes below. We'll be posting more information and details on these meetings soon.
September Meeting:
Come and hear Kelly Comras talk about her new book about Ruth Shellhorn. Ruth who you ask? Ruth Shellhorn was a renowned landscape architect who was hired by Walt Disney to work on Disneyland--literally at the last minute to pull things together. Kelly will show a video about Ruth and talk about her work on Disneyland and other projects around Southern California you will recognize. Kelly was on the author panel at this year's convention but even if you saw that you'll get a more in depth presentation here. We hope you can join us!
When: Sunday September 18th at Noon.
Where: Ron King's home in Norwalk.
October Meeting:
UPDATE! We have had a change in plans for our October meeting. We'll be taking a field trip to see the Eyvind Earle exhibit at Forrest Lawn in Glendale. Since this will only be there a limited time and many of us want to see it we have decided to do this. We'll change the date to our regular meeting date so anyone wanting to go to the Anaheim Halloween Parade can still attend that. We'll re-schedule the Huell Howser exhibit at Chapman University for next year.
When: Sunday October 16th.
