Portland Stage Studio Series Presents WE CAN EAT LOVE

After a sold out run of last season's The Roommate, Director Eileen Phelan brings We Can Eat Love to Portland Stage Studio Series. Written by Maine native, Margie Castleman We Can Eat Love, A New Play with Heart, Soul, and a Little Music will run March 22-31 for eight performances with music by Wilder Zoby and Little Shalimar, and performed by Portland actors Grace Bauer, Whip Hubley, Khalil Lesaldo, Erik Moody, and Casey Turner.

When Peter gets kicked out of his band, he goes to the only place he can, and the one place he shouldn't, his mother's. Only problem, she's remarried. Navigating grief from his father's recent death, Peter must reckon with the past, and find the courage to embrace a future. A new play with heart, soul, and a little music.

Margie Castleman is a playwright and choreographer who has worked in London, New York, and regionally. Her theater career began as a dancer, segued into acting, and then moved to choreography. Today she works mostly as a playwright. Her three plays Closing the Chandlery, Blend, and We Can Eat Love were all semi-finalists in the O'Neill Theatre Conference and The LARK Play Development. Other credits include The Swim Meet (78th Street Theatre Lab, NYC); Blend (Honorable Mention for SheWrites Festival, Synchronicity Theatre, Atlanta); The Beth Day, and Boxed Office (finalists for The Humana Festival at Actor's Theater, Louisville). Castleman holds a BA in Acting from Bard, and an MFA in playwriting from Brooklyn College (Mac Wellman, Chair). She is a Lifetime Member of the Dramatist's Guild. Castleman's family extends back to 1899 Wiscasset, when her great-grandparents, the Sortwells, bought the Nickels House, which is now an historic landmark (Nickels Sortwell House). As a child Castleman split her time between Louisville, Kentucky and Maine. As an adult she has lived all over, but always returns to Maine. She and her husband live in both Rhinebeck, NY and Maine and recently renovated a Westport Island summer home out of the old McCarthy Chandlery, which was a kind of general store for seafaring merchants in the nineteenth century.

The music featured in the production is both performed by the actors, and played off of pre-recorded tracks by the musicians and song writers Torbitt and Wilder Schwartz, brothers that go by the names of Wilder Zoby and Little Shalimar. Their band Chin Chin has two albums, and has toured nationally through Europe and Australia. Additionally, Wilder Zoby's stage band performed regularly on ABC's GONG SHOW Remake with Mike Meyers ('17-'18 Seasons). Little Shalimar recently produced Trixie Whitley's new album, LUCUNA. Both Wilder Zoby and Little Shalimar have produced and toured with RUN THE JEWELS (albums 1, 2, and 3), produced the 2018 new album LOLARU for The Rubens in Australia, and are currently producing the RUN THE JEWELS 4. Wilder Zoby is also working with Atlantic Records. They have been performing, composing and producing music together and individually since graduating from the New School Jazz School in New York, and are the sons of the playwright Margie Castleman.

Eileen Phelan (Director) worked in NYC for years where she produced The Obie Awards, was the Artistic Director of Sightlines Theater ('96-'06), and directed many plays. Favorite productions include Kia Corthron's Cage Rhythm (New York Theater Workshop's 4th Street Theater), Naomi Wallace's One Flea Spare (78th Street Theater), and Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House (Guest Director Brooklyn College). She holds an MFA in Directing from Brooklyn College.

THE CAST

Grace Bauer (Sally) recently appeared in Portland Stage's The Importance of Being Earnest. She originated Etta Cone in All She Must Possess and Susan in Technicolor Life (Rep Stage). Favorites: Homer Bound, A Comedy of Tenors (Good Theater) Trevor (Mad Horse), Three Sisters (Fenix), Blithe Spirit and Our Town, (Theater at Monmouth). Film: Yellow Wagtail, Tell Me No Lies, Boot Camp. TV: Masters of Horror, Psych, The 4400, Romeo 2.

Whip Hubley (Aaron) grew up on the mean streets of New York. In 8th grade, his audition for Smog, the dragon in The Hobbit, convinced Mr. Graham that one kid could do it instead of two. Whip never looked back, acted in all the school plays - the non-singing roles - and continued on for 25 years in the movie business in sunny California. Three years ago, the kids all grown, Whip and wife, Dinah, came back to the East Coast where he now works in the shop at Barrett Made and occasionally shovels snow. Whip is grateful to Eileen and the team for the opportunity to come out of hibernation.

Khalil Lesaldo (Naheem) (he/him/his) is a Mainer who has worked on new and classical works throughout the nation, mostly in Tennessee and Illinois. He makes original work with 2Sheets theater company, which he started with his brother. They make three-dimensional characters, human and nonhuman, for actors who are more representative of the general population.

Erik Moody (Peter) has performed in the Portland, ME theatre community since 2008, working with Good Theater (4000 Miles), Mad Horse Theatre Company (Lieutenant of Inishmore), Lorem Ipsum (Threepenny Opera), AIRE (The Streets of Portland), Dramatic Repertory Company (Year of the Rooster), and PSC (HAUNTING HOUR 2.0). Erik Moody @erikmoody.

Casey Turner (Lauren) has been acting in the Portland area for over a decade. In this time she has explored the stage, screen, trapeze, TedX, voice over and behind the scenes work in the documentary world. Casey loves her home base here in Portland and is excited to be sharing new works with the community.

Tickets and info: portlandstage.org/Studio-Series