When Real Life Begins

by Karen Sunde

Overview

Martin Denton, founder of NYTheatre.com made this play his “Top Recommendation of the Week,” saying:

“When Real Life Begins is an extraordinary solo play about passion, love, and theatre. … a single, long, breathless strand of stream-of-consciousness, moving backward and forward through time and in and out of Anne’s mind and memory.
“There are two stories in When Real Life Begins, inextricably linked but oppositely arced. One is tragic: the death…from cancer of Sam, an actor and artistic director of a small off-off Broadway company…recounted by Anne, his widow and partner, a woman whose sorrow and loss are finally profound and unknowable. At the same time, though, Anne finds herself blossoming as a theatrical producer, assuming the reins from – and carrying the torch for – her beloved Sam. Her discovery, within herself, of a passionate, artistic visionary, is startling and uplifting. Anne’s journeys – the one characterized by…bouts with despair and exhaustion; the other by the sheer joy of creation and accomplishment – form a moving and resonate counterpoint, and make When Real Life Begins a very special play indeed. (It) packs an undeniable wallop. This is a play you won’t soon forget."

Product Details

BN ID:	2940032975113
Publisher:	Karen Sunde
Publication date:	01/02/2012
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	216,911
File size:	99 KB

About the Author

An actor turned writer, Karen performed many leading roles Off-Broadway, and was Associate Director of CSC Repertory. Her plays have been performed Off-Broadway, in regional theatres, on a USA tour, and in eleven countries and seven languages. Sunde’s first screenplay, UNDERCOVER PATRIOT, a finalist at Sundance, optioned. Then PARALLEL LOVES for Terra Bella Entertainment, Los Angeles; BOULE DE SUIF (adapt Maupassant) for Dace Direction, London; DREAM HOUSE for Passport Films, NYC; THE FASTEST WOMAN ALIVE for Howard S Shulman Productions, NYC; THE SECRET SHIP, under option; FINAL QUEST: THE MOUNTAIN OF THE GODS; TRIPPING TAMMY; LOVE HITS EARTH(& Other Disasters); NEXT!; adaptations of HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM, in pre-production as The ABRAHAM FILM PROJECT, and IN A KINGDOM BY THE SEA. check www.howardshulman.com Published plays: DARK LADY, produced Abbey Theatre, Ireland, Aalborg State Theatre, Denmark, optioned for film; BALLOON, won three VILLAGER awards Off-Broadway, nominated Best Play by Outer Critics Circle, aired Radio France; HAITI: A DREAM in FACING FORWARD, produced Seven Stages, Atlanta, aired WNYC, WHYY, NPR; TO MOSCOW, premiered Ankara National Theatre, Turkey, Chain Lightning, New York; OH WILD WEST WIND in ROWING TO AMERICA, produced Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey (PTNJ). PLAYS BY KAREN SUNDE includes TRUTH TAKES A HOLIDAY, read La MaMa, New York City (NYC); IN A KINGDOM BY THE SEA produced PTNJ, HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM, produced PTNJ, Praxis Theatre Project, NYC, premiered at The Unicorn, Kansas City. ANTON, HIMSELF for Actors Theatre of Louisville, also played The Moscow Art Theatre, the Yalta Festival in Russia, Peoples Light and Theatre, NYU in New York. THE FASTEST WOMAN ALIVE produced Luna Stage, NJ, Praxis, NYC, Edinburgh Festival (2010); KABUKI OTHELLO, produced People's Light and Theatre Company and Annenberg Center, Philadelphia; Wisdom Bridge, Chicago; KABUKI LADY MACBETH produced Chicago Shakespeare Theater, cited for five JEFF Awards, including "Best New Work," Best Production," "Best Direction:" IN A KINGDOM BY THE SEA, 2009. Scenes from TO MOSCOW; ANTON, HIMSELF; MASHA, TOO; and ABRAHAM appear in SCENES & MONOLOGS FROM THE BEST NEW PLAYS. Among 23 plays--for Actors Theatre of Louisville; People's Light and Theatre; The Acting Company, NYC, Sunde wrote KABUKI MACBETH, KABUKI KING RICHARD and ACHILLES, which toured Hungary, Cyprus, and Japan. She co-wrote musical QUASIMODO,(a musical) premiered Byrdcliffe Festival, Woodstock, NY, produced Lahti City Theatre, Finland. For Cheltenham Center, Philadelphia, she wrote LA PUCELLE (ME & JOAN) and DADDY'S GONE A-HUNTING (TRACKING BLOOD WHITE). In NYC: for Chain Lightning, WHEN REAL LIFE BEGINS, for The Working Theatre, 2020 SEXCARE in FREE MARKET; for Tisch School, NYU, Table and Chair Handmade Theatre, PLEASE GOD, NO WEDDING OR SHOOTING AT THE END! Opera THE SPA with composer Michael Dilthey. also at http://www.dramaticpublishing.com Sunde’s won a McKnight Fellowship, an NDEA Fellowship, the Aide de la Creation award in France, the Bob Hope Award, lives in New York City, served on the theatre panel of New Jersey Council on the Arts, and the new plays panel of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, was La MaMa ETC (New York)'s nominee for the Laura Pels/​PEN award.