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Back in December we made mention of a one-woman show set to bow in Philly this month: Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins. Yesterday, The New York Times offered a lengthy sneak peek at the show “by” and about Schutze’s former colleague and competitor, which stars Kathleen Turner as the former Dallas Times Herald and Star-Telegram columnist; was penned by twin sisters Allison and Margaret Engel; and, despite the poster, is scheduled to open Wednesday. Turns out, Turner knew Ivins via her relationship with Ann Richards, who, during her stint in NYC, lived in the same building as the Body Heat and Romancing the Stone star.
In the scene Ivins talks about her writing process, which includes time staring, pondering and avoiding editors. “You know editors,” Ms. Turner as Ivins grumbled. “They’re mice, training to be rats.”Though Ivins’s personality and wit jump out, simply conveying those traits isn’t the goal.
“If somebody can read Molly Ivins, let them read Molly Ivins,” [director David Esbjornson] Esbjornson said. “What we want to do is to give her life, make her three-dimensional, contextualize some of the writing and even fantasize to some extent about what might have created those circumstances.”
From the looks of the schedule, the Philadelphia Theatre Company has scheduled myriad special events around opening week, including a meet and greet with ex-DMN‘er Bill Minutaglio, co-author of Molly Ivins: A Rebel Life.
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