"Once in a great while a script emerges from the hundreds of submissions that grabs you and won’t let go. “Paint Made Flesh” by Howard Meyer is a trenchant exploration of gender, art, philosophy, politics, academia and sex in the way that Mark Rothko examined these areas on the canvas. With depth and honesty this is a text that deserves a wide viewership."
Roy Steinberg
Producing Artistic Director
Cape May Stage
PAINT MADE FLESH
A new Play by Howard Meyer
Directed by Cady McClain
Inspired by the 2009 touring exhibition Paint Made Flesh, organized by Mark W. Scala, chief curator, Frist Art Museum, Nashville.
“Paint Made Flesh” the play reveals the interconnected histories of three ambitious people, struggling to face the truth of who they’ve become.
A pop up performance of the play will be set in the middle of a gallery exhibition. The play contains acts of creating art, video art, and performance art.
SPECIAL THANKS to
Gagosian, John Currin, Cecily Brown, Leon Kossoff, Jenny Saville, LA Louver gallery,
and Eric Fischl
Image above courtesy of Annie Terrazzo
Paint Made Flesh was a 2015 semi finalist at The O’Neill National Playwrights Conference
Images in play:
"Hyphen", 1999 "Reflective Flesh," 2003 © Jenny Saville Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian.
"Figures in a Landscape 1", 2001" © Cecily Brown Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian.
"Hobo", 2001 © John Currin Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian Photo: Fred Scruton
"Marsyas (A Memory)" © Leon Kossoff Courtesy of the artist and LA Louver
"Frailty is a Moment of Self Reflection" 1996 © Eric Fischl Courtesy of the artist
"Genius. Cathartic. Every character made me ask myself questions that I am still wrestling with, and will probably wrestle with for a long time."
Julia Boyes
Actor
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Howard Meyer
Howard Meyer is unafraid of dark themes, his characters behave in surprising, recognizable, inevitable, sometimes even tragic fashion; we understand their yearnings, want the best for them, and dread the unfolding trauma. His dialogue is enormously fresh and alive. I love Howard’s writing.
-Craig Lucas, Tony Award winning playwright
Mr. Meyer has worked with me… and made an invaluable contribution through his perceptive analysis of text and performance. Howard has a strong talent and considerable skill... His vision of theatre, both as a vehicle of personal truth as well as moral force in the community is one that I completely identify with.
- Athol Fugard, Tony Award winning Playwright
Cady McClain takes us by the hand and leads us step by step into a strange, labyrinthine world of art and artists. The journey is both physical and psychological. The actors performances are perfectly orchestrated without a misstep in her surefooted, MASTERFUL DIRECTION!
Bob McAndrew
Former talent director at 20th Century Fox and Paramount Studios.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR/PRODUCER
Cady McClain is a three-time Emmy© Award winning actor and a two-time Emmy© nominated Director. She is also a painter, poet, musician and memoirist whose professional career spans more than 30 years.
Ms. McClain began her professional acting career at the age of 9 working with respected directors such as Herbert Ross, Richard Benjamin, Marvin Chomsky and John Erman. She studied directing with the legendary Curt Dempster of Ensemble Studio Theater in NYC.
Devoted to helping more women become directors, her first foray into documentary film, Seeing is Believing: Women Direct, (which she also produced and edited) premiered at the 2017 SOHO International Film Festival, winning the Audience Award for a Feature Film, and went on to win Best Documentary - Pro Action at the Artemis Film Festival.
Her short documentary Burnt Feathers, Broken Wings (her third short for Kids in the Spotlight) won Best Social Justice Film at the 2020 Santa Fe Film Festival and Best Documentary Short at the 2020 Mystic Film Festival; her second short The World of Albert Fuh won multiple awards and honors including an honorable mention for Best Director by the Los Angeles Film Review; and her sixth short film Butterflies, was recently accepted into the Cannes Short Film Corner and won Best Short Film and Best Actress in a Short Film at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival.
Her films have been Official Selections at such esteemed venues as the Macon Film Festival, the SOHO Film Festival, The Oxford Film Festival, the St Louis Film Festival, the Sedona Film Festival.
McClain has studied international literature at NYU, writing and art history at The New School, and fine art painting at the School of Visual Art in NYC.
In September 2017, McClain was awarded by the Association of Women in Communications with the International Matrix Award. Previous recipients include Ann Curry, Jane Pauley, Judy Woodruff and Christiane Amanpour. Ms. McClain is very honored and humbled to be in included with such an illustrious group of groundbreaking women.
THE ACTORS
For the NYC Production - Meredith Garretson (as Willa), Stephen Grush (as Dylan), and David Lanson (as Keir) brought a deft ability with language, edgy humor, and considerable pathos to three unforgettable characters.
as "Willa"
as "Dylan"
as "Kier"
PRODUCER
Amanda Quinn Olivar
Curator magazine editor Amanda Quinn Olivar is currently producing the feature documentary Seeing is Believing: WomenDirect. She recently collaborated on Steven Arnold: Heavenly Bodies and an upcoming documentary about fashion designer Zandra Rhodes. A member of the International Press Academy, Amanda sits on the boards of London's Fashion and Textile Museum and The Chimaera Project (an organization presenting opportunities for women & promoting gender equality in the media arts). As a curator and arts advocate, she received the HeArt Award for her work benefiting A Window Between Worlds, and has curated exhibits at venues including The Cornell Art Museum, Skirball Cultural Center, Fresno Art Museum, and Brand Art Center. Amanda was born and raised in Los Angeles, California.
PRODUCER
Eva Paris Cicinyte
Eva Paris Cicinyte is a Lithuanian-Canadian dancer, singer and actress born in Kaunas, Lithuania on April 16, 1993. She moved to Canada at the age of seven and has lived in toronto , Ontario since. From the age of three Eva began competitive ballroom dancing and trained in prestigious private schools with top world coaches such as (Paul Killick, Karina Smirnoff, Arunas Bizokas, and Oleg Yedlin) which brought her the title of Junior Canadian Finalist. At the age of 21, Eva moved on to a film career by booking principal roles in feature films My Daughter Must Live (2014) starring Madeline Martin ( Star of TV Show Californication), and Deadly Voltage (2015) on Lifetime. Recently in 2017, Eva has booked her first Lead Role in a feature film called The Road Ahead, along with recurring role on a TV Series called Switch starring Oscar Award winner Olympia Dukakis and Emmy Award winner Cady McClain. At the moment Eva is also producing a documentary called “ Seeing is Believing:Women Direct” directed by Cady McClain, which has won the Audience Award for Best Feature at the SOHO International Film Festival in NYC, and Jury Award in the best documentary Category at the Newport Beach Film Festival.
WE COULDN'T DO THIS WITHOUT YOU
This production is made possible though the generous support of Sotheby's, Axial Theatre, Michael Howard Studios, The Cell, The Cornell Museum, Dan Golden Studios,
Evolutionary Media Group, Equity, Jon Lindstrom, Harry Lipstein, and Curator Magazine.
Click the link to read more about our production team.
