OWL & PUSSYCAT THEATRE COMPANY
ABOUT US
Owl & Pussycat Theatre Company (OP Theatre Co.) was Co Founded by Ashley Ford & Theo Salter, lovingly named after the poem “The Owl & the Pussycat” by Victorian poet Edward Lear, which you can read here. We aim to create theatre that is both playful and serious, entertaining & thought provoking.
PROGRAMS
The Crossover Series presents A Virtual Workshop Presentation of "Dreaming of Sexual Healing, Sort Of​"
- Free on Facebook Live
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On Sunday, May 31st, 2020, Owl & Pussycat Theatre Co. and Eastern Bridge Theatre Troupe present the first ever Virtual Edition of The Crossover Series with a free workshop performance of a new play written specifically for the live-streaming platform, “Dreaming of Sexual Healing, Sort Of” by Theo Salter, directed by Anna Rak, featuring performances by Adam Dorsey, Ashley Ford, Christine Lane, Sean Dillingham & Spencer Irwin - Streamed Live on Facebook.
“Dreaming of Sexual Healing, Sort Of” is a hybrid virtual theatre performance exploring love, therapy, dreaming and our search for connection in the midst of a pandemic. Written by Theo Salter specifically for the Zoom and LiveStream platforms, this fast-paced, zany comedy follows Dr. Stephanie Elba (Ashley Ford) who is struggling to hold it together for her patient’s online therapy sessions. When her impulsive patient Else (Christine Lane) requests a “group therapy session” Dr. Elba is pushed to her limits.
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Admission is FREE or by Donation
Dates/Times: Sunday, May 31st
@ 4:30pm PST/5:30pm MDT/6:30pm CDT/7:30pm EST
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Length: 30 minutes
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Where: LIVE on Facebook @optheatreco & @easterbridgetheatre
RSVP to: https://www.facebook.com/events/3129159327146207
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Make a donation to support the artists who donate their time, passion and skill and future productions of The Crossover Series: www.paypal.com/pools/c/8pstwjyjvq
Company Members
ASHLEY FORD
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR/
CO FOUNDER
Ashley Ford’s producing record includes co-founding Enlightenment Theatre in Canada, where she developed, directed and produced Homage to Kurt Schwitters and George F. Walker’s Zastrozzi. As co-founding Associate Artistic Director of Full Spectrum Theatre Co., she produced a New York Revival of David Lindsay-Abaire’s Rabbit Hole (Davenport Theatre). She is also a co-founding member of Secondhand Theatre, whose devised physical theatre production Lost in Place received Best Production at the 2015 Planet Connections Festival, and Ashley personally received the Best Choreography award.
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THEO SALTER
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR/
CO FOUNDER
Theo Salter’s producing experience began working for the partners at Richard Frankel Productions in NYC while the company was maintaining shows such as Hairspray, and STOMP, and launching both Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein and a revival of Gypsy. He then co-founded Red Wheelbarrow Productions and collaborated on a reimagined version of Manuscript by Paul Grellong. After he took the role of co-artistic director of Lunar Energy Productions and helmed productions of: Before Placing Me on Your Shelf (based on the poems of James Tate), Chloroform Dream’s (an original play from the Iowa University Master’s program), and a modern adaptation of Chekhov’s Three Sisters.
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KAREN LOUISA LINTON
FOUNDING MEMBER
Karen Louisa Linton was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut but raised outside of Nashville, Tennessee. She studied at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland where she directed Steve Martin’s The Underpants for the King’s Players. She left after her sophomore year to intern at the Nashville Repertory Theatre under the direction of Renée Copeland, where she assisted with the premiere of Pulitzer Prize winning David Auburn’s The Columnist and Academy Award winning John Patrick Shanley’s Storefront Church in the Ingram New Works Festival. She has created video portraits of Warhol Factory Superstar Ultra Violet, along with producing her limited edition CD, the Grammy Award winning conductor Jerry Blackstone, and novelist and poet Erica Wright. She has also made music videos for independent rock musician Whitey and her father, the critically acclaimed classical composer Michael Linton. Her films have been screened at the Big Muddy Film Festival, Chattanooga Film Festival, Tennessee Women’s Theatre Project, and the California Women’s Film Festival.
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THE POEM
THE OWL & THE PUSSYCAT
BY EDWARD LEAR
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
"O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!"
Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?"
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-Tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.
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"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.