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Quotes from the "Judevine" Cast!

April 12, 2017
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2017's David Budbill's Judevine, is Lost Nation Theater's third production of the play.


The first in 2007, featured David working with LNT founder and artistic director Kim Bent to create new beginnings to each Act as well as new lines, revised scenes based on what was happening in rehearsal with Kim and the Actors.
Five of the Seven Actors in this, our 10th Anniversary Production, appeared in LNT's original.

 

Ben Ash

“To have this opportunity to appear in David's magnificent play Judevine with LNT, cast, crew and Director Kim Bent is be home again.
When I was a lad I had the great good fortune to be introduced to David Budbill's collection, Judevine, by my Father. I was astonished by it's wit, wisdom and Grace. I have had the purest of pleasures to return to Judevine on multiple journeys. Journeys brimming and spilling over with human condition. Unique in it's full-throated Vermont cadences and credenzas. Thank you David, always.” (This is Ben’s 3rd Judevine and 4th Budbill at LNT)

 

Sean Gregory:

‘Judevine is, in many ways, the essence of what it means to be human. It captures the ebb and flow of everyday life that may otherwise pass us by, and I couldn't be happier to be joining this veteran cast as we breathe new life into these timeless characters.’  (This Sean’s LNT debut)

 

Ashley Nease

“I was on my way to work when I received Kim's email, asking me if I'd join the Judevine cast. I wept for joy openly on the streets of Manhattan! Judevine and David Budbill hold special, complex places in my Vermonter heart, as they do for everyone in this production. Lost Nation Theater provided me my first opportunity to work with David; it is where I feel like I'm coming home, and is also a very special place where his work has thrived and evolved. Which is why it was so important to me that I make myself available for this show. I'm working three NYC jobs remotely, I just couldn't miss this opportunity to play Grace! She is a perfect example of how Budbill powerfully captures the human-made wilderness of Vermont. His characters are a pleasure to perform, they are the survivors - the saplings that endure every winter and are green every spring.”  (This is Ashley’s 1st Judevine, but 2nd Budbill at LNT)

 

Robert Nuner:

‘Revisiting Judevine now, after the 2016 election, I’m struck by the lives portrayed and the congruence with the idea of “the deplorables” who appeared from the shadows and swung the election. The play talks about lives that are shoved to the edges, and yet we’re reminded that these folks intend to survive. Re-learning Budbill’s lines, I kept coming upon moments that reminded me where that sentiment comes from that seems core to the desire to “Make America Great Again”. In a perverse kind of way, the play is prescient; the past, through a mirror, is present.’  (Bob has been playing Budbill characters for 25 years, and his 5th time playing them at LNT)

 

Abby Paige

“My mom took me to a performance of Judevine at the Flynn in the 80s, years before I knew David or what I was going to do with my life. I think I was maybe 12, and it was the first piece of theater -- maybe the first piece of art -- I'd ever seen that depicted people and places familiar or beloved to me. It really changed my understanding of what art could do.”  (This is Abby’s 3rd Judevine at LNT)  For more from Abby - whose wedding ceremony was conducted by David Budbill (a JP) on David's driveway, with Lois Eby as a witness, during the Valentine's Blizzard - click here

 

Scott Renzoni

Renzo is a Lost Nation veteran who played David & Tommy in the theater's original production and is returning as David. "The show combines three things I love: Vermont, poetry, and theatre," he says.. It's been a decade-long dream to be in the show again, and it's a pleasure to return to Judevine, the small town with an infinite heart. Working with colleagues old and new provides an exciting opportunity to breathe new and continued life into this play which means so much to me."
(This is Renzo’s 2nd Judevine, 8th Season and 18th show at LNT)

 

photo of the Cast of Judevine courtesy of John Snell

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