Submission 130 / Day 129

BENEATH SHELTON LAUREL to CentreStage, South Carolina.

BSL would be a thunderous success, commercially and artistically, at this theatre. CentreStage is located in Greenville, SC near the region where BSL is set and the public there has an obsessive interest in the Civil War that will only be magnified by the war's upcoming sesquicentennial. Plus, the quite successful Executive Director of Centre Stage, B. J. Koonce, is an accomplished actress who should adore the role of Patsy Shelton.

In a rational world those factors plus BSL's considerable success at Southern Appalachian Rep and its recognition by the National Endowment for the Arts should be sufficient reason for CentreStage to give the play serious consideration . . . wouldn't you think? We'll see.

In the meantime, another sobering line from Moss Hart's remarkable autobiography, "Act One" (I recommend it highly). "Nepotism runs through the theatre with the grandeur of the Mississippi at flood time." Ouch.