Tony Winner Lena Hall to Lead Industry Readings of New Musical Citizen Ruth
(© David Gordon)
Tony Award winner Lena Hall (Hedwig and the Angry Inch) will lead a private industry reading of Citizen Ruth: An American Musical Comedy on March 10. Based on Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor's Miramax film of the same name, Citizen Ruth features a book and lyrics by Mark Leydorf and music by Michael Brennan.
According to press materials, Citizen Ruth follows "Ruth Stoops, a homeless huffer [who] lands in jail (again), where she learns she is pregnant (again). After the judge offers to go easy on her if she will get an abortion, Ruth finds herself in a pickle. A desperate jail-cell prayer is apparently answered when she's taken in by Norm and Gail Stoney, pro-life Christians with the local Babysavers chapter."
Directed by Tony Award-nominated director Dan Knechtges (Lysistrata Jones, Xanadu), with musical direction by Angela Grody, the cast of Citizen Ruth will also feature Janet Dickinson, Laurie Wells, Julia Murney, Pearl Sun, Emily Walton, Duke Lafoon, Jason "ST" Williams, Dennis Stowe, Kevin Zak, Alex Wyse, and Kevin Ligon.
Citizen Ruth is produced by Christopher Allen and presented by TWEED TheaterWorks. The invite-only reading will precede an anticipated off-Broadway summer run.
