“Without Ruth” Makes Off The Wall Productions a Cultural Treasure

Every once awhile, you find a community gem that deserves more light. Off The Wall Productions in Carnegie is such a venue – a community theater group that has a fantastic facility coupled with a great creative team.

Photo: Off The Wall Productions
Photo: Off The Wall Productions

“Without Ruth” debuted this past weekend – a play written Virginia Wall Gruenert based on the real life experiences of lead actor, Linda Haston in the final months of her mother’s life. Ruth was her mother. Haston portrays herself and her mother, recreating Ruth’s story as she found her hard fought independence forever altered by dementia. Their stories are contrasted with Ruth’s social worker facing the mortality of her own mother.

Linda Haston (l) with Ledcat (r)
Linda Haston (l) with Ledcat (r)

It is haunting, funny and uttertly captivating. I wept several times (my mother is in her seventies.)

The venue itself is amazing – it would be right at home in the Cultural District. The lines are modern, the furnishing comfortable and the staging was easy to follow. There was plenty of free parking (ahem) and it is easy to find in the heart of Carnegie. They even have a concession partnership with a local coffeehouse.

“Without Ruth” runs through May 18 and wraps up the 2012 season. Be sure to check out their 2013 lineup – ALL of the plays are authored by women: Madeleine George, Lisa Kron, Sarah Treem and Rinne Groff.

Off The Wall Production is also hosting a one-performance only Pride event on Tuesday, June 11 “Secret of the Pearl” to honor Pride Month.

WithoutRuthStage

The folks at OTW have asked us to give away a pair of passes to see “Without Ruth” on Saturday, May 18, 2013 at 8 PM. Winners will also be able to attend the wrap-party that night after the performance. You must be 18 to enter. Your guest for the performance must be at least 14 years old.

Here’s how the raffle/contest works – It does take at least two steps!

  • Leave a comment (either in the box that says “Leave a Comment” or click on the “Leave a Reply” link)  Be sure your comment has some identifying information so we can reach you if you win (You can link to your email, Facebook, G+, twitter, etc. If you choose to be anonymous, we can’t track you if you win.)
  • THEN click on the Rafflecopter and check off that you’ve left a comment.
  • You can also click on the other options (Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter) and fill out those fields. Don’t worry – Rafflecopter will tell you if you’ve been successful.
  • That’s it!
  • Consider this the cyberequivalent of being handed a strip of paper raffle tickets and having to figure out which to keep while writing all of your contact info on those little lines! :-)

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

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