Playwright Arlene Hutton, whose romantic drama Last Train to Nibroc received a 2000 Drama Desk nomination, remounts her latest work, As It Is in Heaven, Jan. 11-Feb. 5, 2002, at Off-Off-Broadway's ArcLight Theatre. The musical drama took its first bows at the 2001 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Aug. 3-28, 2001, and first played at the 78th Street Theater Lab Sept. 14-Oct. 7, 2001.
As It Is in Heaven explores the lives of nine Shaker women in 1830's Kentucky who are threatened when a newcomer to their strict religious sect begins having visions of angels. Developed at New Dramatists where Hutton has been a member since 1998, As It Is in Heaven received a Cameron Mackintosh Foundation Grant and the John Lippman New Frontier Award.
Hutton is the pen name for actress-director Beth Lincks. Her other works include the short plays I Dream Before I Take the Stand, Houseplay, Pushing Buttons and In the Mind's Eye. As It Is in Heaven is her second full-length play.
As It Is in Heaven features Priscilla Shanks, Margot Avery, Juie Alderfer, Carla Cantrelle, Soline McLain, Sarah Gifford, Lisa Hayes, Ruth Nightengale and Alana West.
Tickets are $15. The ArcLight Theatre is located at 152 West 71st Street between Columbus and Broadway. For reservations, call (212) 946-6379. — By Christine Ehren