Arts & Entertainment

New Piedmont Theater Troupe Opens First Show

The newly formed Piedmont Players are taking wing with their inaugural production tonight, Friday, and tomorrow night – "The Queens of France" by Thornton Wilder – at the Piedmont Center for the Arts.

If you feel a kind of anticipation in the air in Piedmont today, April 5, it could be because the town's new theater company, the Piedmont Players, debuts tonight at the Piedmont Center for the Arts.

The troupe's first production – at 7:30 p.m. tonight and Saturday night – is a one-act play by Thorton Wilder, The Queens of France. Admission is free and a $10 donation is requested, in part to cover the cost of hors d'ouevre and beverages.

The Piedmont Players grew out of the Piedmont Center for the Arts and the collaboration between two individuals with longstanding backgrounds in the theater – Nancy Lehrkind, founder of Piedmont Center for the Arts, and Michael French, a veteran director and actor. Lehrkind is the first show's producer and French its director.

Find out what's happening in Piedmontwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Queens of France, according to a description on the Center for the Arts webstie, "is set in New Orleans in 1869. Monsieur Cahusac, a charlatan of a lawyer, preys on vulnerable women, convincing each one that she is a legitimate descendant of the long-lost Dauphin, who fled Paris for New Orleans at the age of 10 during the French Revolution. Therefore, he tells each victim, she is the rightful Queen of France. Tantalized by visions of wealth, palaces and power, each victim responds in her own fashion to this preposterous revelation, which the lawyer claims is supported by the Historical Society of Paris."

Wilder, who spent part of his childhood in Berkeley and graduated from Berkeley High, is known for a number of works – including two Pulitzer Prize-winning plays, Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a Pulitzer-winning novel, The Bridge of San Luis Rey. 

Find out what's happening in Piedmontwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"This is THE inaugural performance of The Piedmont Players, an adult theatre troupe founded by me," Lehrkind said via email in response to a query from Patch about the company and the production.  "I am, in addition, the Producer of this production. We intend to form our own Board under the auspices of The Piedmont Center For The Arts and perform 4 plays a year."

Lehrkind also provided some personal background:

I have been passionate about theatre ever since I helped direct my first play at the Children's Theatre Workshop in Toledo, Ohio. I was in the fifth grade, probably age 11. Not long after that I found myself sitting on a camp chair in a field outside of Toledo, watching a group of adult actors (several the moms and dads of my classmates) perform in a tent on a lovely Ohio summer evening.  I said to myself, "Wow, someday that's what I would like to do!"  Fast forward many years and I began performing in the PLOT (Piedmont Light Opera Theater) summer shows, several of them with my daughter, Molly ("Music Man" and "Oklahoma").  Of course, when PLOT folded, it was very sad.  But my dream continued.  Now it has taken 10 years, forming a nonprofit, securing the lease of a city building, raising $150,000, rehabbing the building, forming a Board and structure, building a viable business plan, running an acting class, endless recruiting, and, finally, finding Michael French (who just walked up the front steps of the Center one day and asked if he could be a part of it!).

Lehrkind and French also provided a short bio for French:

Michael French, Artistic Director of The Piedmont Players, is a recent Piedmont resident, and was, just prior to moving here a Founding Member of the influential Theatre13 Theatre Company in Colorado. Mr. French studied acting at The Drama School in England and The Acting Studio in New York.  He served as  the Founder and Artistic Director of the Glasshouse Theatre company in London, and has directed over 50 plays in England, Paris and the US. Currently, he serves as Artistic Director of The Aluminous Collective in San Francisco and is a resident director at PlayGround. In July he will be directing the World Premier of FIRST by Evelyn Jean Pine at A.C.T's Costume Shop Theatre.

The cast of The Queens of France are all Piedmont residents, Lehrkind said:

  • M'su Cahusac, Lawyer......Gautam Wadhwani
  • Marie-Sidonie Cressaux....Cherielyn Ferguson
  • Madame Pugeot...............Beverly Berning
  • Mamselle Pointevin..........Hedi Gerken
  • Mamselle Drouet.............Nancy Lehrkind
  • Nurse Juliette.................Lockey Todd

----------------------------

Don't miss any news from Piedmont Patch. Get the day's headlines and events – plus any breaking news alerts – by subscribing to the Piedmont Patch email newsletter.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here