“Education of Lisa"
Doors open at 5:00pm for dinner.
Date: 2/7/2023 (Tue.)
Time: 7:00pm EDT
Location: Shrimpy’s | 18585 Coastal Hwy Suite 23, Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971
Writer Lisa Graff will be joined on stage by local musicians Holly Lane and John Flynn for the debut of “Education of Lisa,” at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 7, at Shrimpy’s restaurant north of Rehoboth Beach. Doors open at 5 p.m. for dinner. Cost for the show is $10 cash at the door. Seating is limited; sign up at signupgenius.com/go/70A0A4CA9AB2AA7F85-educating. Reservations will not be accepted by the restaurant.
The creator of “The Schoolgirl, the Scandal and the Scoundrel, or Everything I learned in life, I learned as a waitress,” which she performed with the Gone Boys last fall, Graff said she saw Lane and Flynn perform last September and approached them about writing a script. “They didn’t know me but listened to me babble on like a star-struck schoolgirl about my idea to write a new show. I asked Holly to come see my first gig with the Gone Boys, and she came! I couldn’t believe how much the audience liked my first show about the lessons learned as a waitress,” said Graff.
When Graff left the Washington, D.C. area in 1979 to secure a master’s degree in theater at Northwestern University, she never intended to return. She planned to move to Hollywood and try her luck at auditioning for television.
“Once I got to school at age 24 and I saw all these younger, prettier girls with the same dream, I lost my nerve. I went back home to teach high school theater classes and to act in community theater. But I never doubted my talent,” said Graff.
Her love of acting began in her junior year of college when one of her instructors, Dr. David Press, asked her to try out for a play by Clifford Odets titled, “Awake and Sing.” Graff was cast in the role of Hennie, an unmarried 26-year-old daughter in the Berger family.
“To be unmarried at 26 in 1935 was scandalous – and my character was pregnant,” said Graff. “The play debuted in 1935, and it was set in the Bronx borough of New York City in 1933. The Berger family all lived under one roof, and the parents were scheming to control our futures. We had our own dreams. It was a demanding role, and I listened to tape after tape to strive for an authentic accent.”
The 1975 Frostburg State College production was chosen to compete in the American College Theater Festival at George Washington University, and Graff won Best Supporting Actress honors.
“We got trophies and accolades. It was our little Academy Awards show, and my whole family came to watch. I knew I had to act again and again. After college I was in several shows on the community level,” she said.
