EastLine Theatre

EastLine Theatre
in association with
Westbury Arts
presents
the world premiere of

These Gilded Souls

A Jazz Age Ghost Story

by Aly Kantor

Adapted from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

December 3 - 17, 2022
Westbury Arts

“I once thought that there were no second acts in American lives, but there was certainly to be a second act to New York's boom days.”

— F. Scott Fitzgerald, My Lost City, 1935

There will be a fifteen minute intermission between acts one and two.

Please be aware this performance includes simulated gunshots, depictions of relationship abuse, violence, mental illness, substance abuse, suicide, and racially insensitive language.

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Nick Carraway Hari Bhaskar
Jay Gatsby Adam Bjelland
Daisy Buchanan Anjor Khadilkar
Jordan Baker Laura Gilchrist
Tom Buchanan John Brautigam
Myrtle Wilson Michelle Osojnak
George Wilson Peter Goike III
Young Gatsby / Chester McKee Edward Martinez
Catherine / Ella Kaye Deanna Ibrahim
Meyer Wolfsheim and others Jonathan Geffner
Owl Eyes Elizabeth Rowe

Direction Matt Rosenberg
Choreography Bryan Bowie
Stage Management / Scenic Painting Michelle Savin
Costume Design Lynn Adler-Ciorciari
Assistant Costumer Wendy Pollak Grimm
Lighting Design Danny Higgins
Poster Design Anna Stacy

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This performance is taking place on unceded Native land. Long Island has been and still is home to Indigenous communities including the Lenape, the Shinnecock, the Unkechaug, the Montauketts, and the Matinecock, amongst others. You can find out more about Native American history and culture on Long Island at On This Site.

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EastLine Theatre

Danny Higgins & Nicole Savin,
Co-Artistic Directors

Morgan Moffitt & Paul DeFilippo,
Associate Artistic Directors

EastLine Theatre is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Our programming is made possible through your donations. Donations can be made fee-free via Facebook or with a small fee via BookTix. All donations are tax-deductible.

The EastLine Theatre Board of Directors is: Larry Meneses, Lynda Gaug, Matt Rosenberg, Nicole Savin, Danny Higgins, and Steven Prendergast

The EastLine Theatre Creative Associates are: Anna Stacy, Aly Kantor, Anthony Noto, Bryan Bowie, David Bullen, Deanna Ibrahim, Jess Reed, Joe Boccia Jr., John Brautigam, Julianna Frasca, Lynn Ciorciari, Matt Rosenberg, Melanie Lipton, Morgan Moffitt, Nicole Savin, Paul DeFilippo, Sheilah Barksdale, and Remi Watts.

If you’re enjoying today’s performance and want to hear more from us, sign up for our mailing list!

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In 2023 we enter double digits. Ten years! We cannot think of a better reason for nostalgia, reflection, and growth, and there will be so much of that to come in 2023 with your support.

As we enter our second decade, in many ways we are still the scrappy little theatre company that could: as we scramble to find rehearsal space, or schlep an entire Shakespeare play's worth of supplies into a park on a sweltering day. The growing pains of adolescence are evident as we expand and develop our ways of working, as we increase the number of artists we are paying each year, as we reach to bring you the kind of theatre you are not seeing anywhere else on Long Island.

Every time you choose to go to the theatre you are making the choice to go on a journey with us. We know it's easier to stay at home, to flip through Netflix. We would simply not exist without this community, and we want to thank you for being a part of it for ten messy and magical years.

Our 2023 plans include our biggest undertaking yet: both parts of Tony Kushner's epic Angels in America. You'll also find us developing new work by Long Island playwrights, crafting Long Island premieres of incisive contemporary plays, bringing free Shakespeare to parks across Long Island, celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, hosting our monthly community book club, and more!

Your donations keep our programming free and low-cost, while maintaining the level of quality, innovation, and experimentation we strive to make our hallmark. Every dime is spent on artist pay, production supplies, and theatrical magic (someone has to make that angel fly!). 

EastLine Theatre is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Our programming is made possible through your donations. Donations can be made fee-free via Facebook or with a small fee via BookTix. All donations are tax-deductible.

Thank you always for your kindness and generosity, but more than ever on our tenth anniversary.

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Hari Bhaskar, Adam Bjelland, John Brautigam, Jonathan Geffner, Laura Gilchrist, Peter Goike III, Deanna Ibrahim, Anjor Khadilkar, Edward Martinez, Michelle Osojnak, Elizabeth Rowe

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Celebrate our tenth anniversary with us! Tickets available now!

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Lynn Ciorciari (she/her) being a fashion-plate punk rocker in the early 80s was only possible on a teenager’s budget by learning how to sew. Thus began a lifelong passion for all things fabric, thread, needles and pins. Costuming actors from NYC to Idaho to Atlanta and now, at EastLine, is a privilege. Big thanks to an ultra-creative mom who handed over the keys to her trusty Singer way back when.

Danny Higgins (he/they) has been making theatre with EastLine since 2011. He is a producer, director, writer, actor, and lighting designer. Some of his favorite credits include Indecent, Amadeus, Buried Child, Antigone, Richard III, Incident at Vichy, Gross Indecency, and the original musical Prospero (Live!) for which he also wrote the book. He studies Technical Theatre at NCC. Focused exclusively working in intimate spaces, his work is usually defined by his innovative use of lighting, sound, and textiles. He enjoys theatre that is thought-provoking and challenges convention. He lives in Malverne with his cat, Delilah.

Bryan Bowie (he/him) is a Long Island-based music and theatre teacher, stage performer, musician, and choreographer. He holds a BMus in Music Education from the SUNY Fredonia and a M.M. in Comprehensive Music Education from Bowling Green State University. Bryan is excited to be returning to EastLine in this capacity after previously choreographing last year’s production of Pride & Prejudice. Break legs, breathe, dance, and have fun!

Matt Rosenberg (he/him) is extremely honored to return to the director’s chair with this original work. Matt has been with EastLine since 2015, where he has served as stage manager, director, and actor. Previous directing or co-directing credits include Intimate Apparel, On Golden Pond, Barefoot in the Park, The Best Man, and Deathtrap. Matt wants to thank his incredibly talented cast for all their hard work and to his creative team for their constant support. And to Aly, it has been a great joy to sit alongside you and bring your work to life.

Michelle Savin (she/her) is a Long Island-based visual artist. Previous scenic painting and prop design credits at EastLine include Our Leading Lady, Amadeus, Intimate Apparel, and Indecent. Other previous production credits include Into the Woods, I Remember Mama, and Noises Off. In addition to her artistic pursuits, Michelle is a handler with Pet Partners Therapy Animal Program, where she is teamed with her loyal pup, Sadie. With gratitude to Caitlin, for everything.

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from the playwright

When my friends at EastLine suggested that I write an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s iconic novel The Great Gatsby, I told them I had to sleep on it. If you know me, you know I didn’t sleep. I immediately read the novel three times, then took a deep dive into literary criticism and scholarly research.

One week later I told them I’d decided to go for it because - and I quote - “it’s going to be hard to adapt.”

I had no idea.

Gatsby is a novel that has resisted becoming a play at every single turn. It sounds theatrical, and most would think of the plot as “dramatic,” but the source material reveals otherwise.

I would come to learn that every major event in the novel - and I do mean every single one - hinges on a variety of lengthy expository speeches delivered while sitting passively at tables or in cars. “That’s easy,” you might say, “Just use flashbacks!” Only the events they’re talking about also aren’t active. About 2% of the book is about parties and infidelity and driving in fast cars - the images you remember. The other 98% is all rich guys eating lunch and talking about something that happened one time—and about half the time, they’re lying.

In essence, friends, I was not wrong. It was hard. I had to accept that my job was to adapt a story about people stuck living in the past into an active and vital medium. Could I find a reason for even one character in this opulent, consequence-free world to grow or change? Could I justify the need to gather an audience in a theatre to watch it unfold?

With that said, I worked out of two versions of the source text: the published version of The Great Gatsby that we have all read, plus an earlier draft titled Trimalchio in West Egg. The structure of Trimalchio was a major influence on the structure of my play. It also inspired some playful choices, such as the masked costume party and the “queer gaze” popcorn moment in Act II.

I did work hard to try to curate a faithful adaptation - and I use the word “curate” very intentionally. I wanted this to be Fitzgerald’s story. As curator, I gave our narrator some distance from the events so that he could be the one to grow and change in the process of reliving and remembering. The tragedy in my adaptation isn’t necessarily all of the death. It’s in the stagnation of the living: the story’s unlikely ghosts.

To address the literary and symbolic nature of the text, I employed a theatrical device: two different actors (the fabulous Adam Bjelland and the dashing Edward Martinez) play the role of Gatsby. One is denoted as "Young Gatsby," but that's ultimately disingenuous. They are both the Gatsby of Nick’s tipsy, decade-old memories. Neither is more or less "real."

This is because, during my very first reading of the novel, I became fixated on a very small moment that takes place in Nick's house during Daisy and Gatsby's reunion. Gatsby knocks a clock over and apologizes for breaking it. The clock, however, is not broken. It was never broken. Nick still accepts the apology.

In my adaptation, that moment (though it doesn't appear as written) breaks things open. My Nick doesn't accept the apology. He becomes aware of Gatsby’s duplicity, and the man splits in two in his mind.

The clock, after all, was never actually broken.

Music does a lot of work in the retelling, too. My hope is that the music (and Bryan Bowie’s fantastic choreography) will fill in the gaps, provide ambiance, and help transport us to the past.

The result is, I hope, a jazzy, half-drunken memory play centering a queer protagonist. I hope it will be as fun as it is devastating and as beautiful as it is profoundly ugly. 

Thank you for taking a risk on new work. Drive safe, friends. 

*****

Aly Kantor is a playwright, performer, and educator from Long Island, New York, where she is a Creative Associate with EastLine Theatre. Her award-winning, internationally-produced work often focuses on women’s stories, with a touch of magic, science, history, and/or the uncanny. She has appeared in numerous roles on the EastLine stage, such as Debra in Kimberly Akimbo, Clementine in Our Leading Lady, Helen in Laughter on the 23rd Floor, and various roles in All in the Timing. 

During the pandemic, EastLine produced Aly’s original virtual monologue play, Adventurers Anonymous, which you can view on the theatre’s YouTube channel. She has since adapted the piece into a full-length theatrical script, which has received a full year of developmental support from The Bechdel Group in NYC. Aly’s award-winning full-length play Occupied has been developed across the East Coast, receiving developmental readings and workshops with Theatre Off-Kilter, Vivid Stage, Dominion Stage, Playhouse on Park, New Normal Rep, Music Theatre of CT, and the Cab Calloway School of the Arts. Her shorter works are produced frequently across the country and virtually, including Off-Broadway. 

Aly looks forward to continuing her relationship with EastLine and bringing more new, queer, and quirky theatre to Long Island in 2023.

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This performance is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and administered by the Huntington Arts Council.

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EastLine Theatre is a nonprofit theatre company that BroadwayWorld calls ‘Long Island’s best kept secret’. EastLine aims to create theatre in unlikely spaces while re-examining the canon, exploring modern plays, and bringing original works to the attention of the community. EastLine is committed to creating opportunities for women, people of color, and LGBTQIA+ people.

EastLine Theatre is a proud member of the Huntington Arts Council and the Alliance of Resident Theatres / New York.

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This performance is a co-production with Westbury Arts. EastLine is thankful for their continued support.

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from the playwright

Special thanks to Dr. C. Austin Hill and the long-suffering TOK crew for their help with the play’s early development (and reading Scene 5 again and again and again) and to the many EastLine friends who joined us for readings throughout the process.

My infinite gratitude to:

Director Matt Rosenberg (for believing in this script enough to bleed all over it) 

Choreographer Bryan Bowie (who always understands the assignment)

Co-artistic director Nicole Savin (whose attention to detail is a kind of magic)

Co-artistic director Danny Higgins (for looking at me and seeing a green light)

Stage Manager Michelle Savin (the cast Dad and stalwart defender of the Tome)

Costumer Lynn Ciorciari (who is too good for this world and knows it) and assistant costumer Wendy Pollak Grimm (for taking on a period piece by choice)

Graphic designer Anna Stacy (for the bomb poster and general moral support)

The entire cast (for taking the first risk and becoming incredible stewards of this story – with a special shout out to Deanna, who has been on this play’s development journey from the first table read until opening night!)

My friends at Huntington Arts Council (for providing the funding and support that made our party possible)

And YOU, friends in the audience! EastLine can only continue queering the canon and producing new works if you take the risk and fill our seats. Please keep doing it!

Love shows up. Thanks for being here.

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With thanks to Anthony Noto, Julie Lyon, Stanley Turetsky, Jennifer Yatco, Connie Locasio, and everyone at Westbury Arts, Stephen Burdman and New York Classical Theatre, Concetta Bjelland, Fabric Wholesale Direct, Colleen Brady, Pat Vultaggio, Paul & Lynda Gaug; and performers and attendees of our readings of this play including Melanie Lipton, Spencer McLaughlin, Patrick Finn, and Paul DeFilippo

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