Miles Away by Christine Whitley

Winner of the 10-11 Woodward/Newman Drama Award

April 8 - 23, 2011

Chloe Williamson (Front) & Lee Parker (Back) in Miles Away
photo by Ivona Hedin

The Bloomington Playwrights Project (BPP) is proud to announce an historic event in its 10/11 Mainstage Season, the production of the very first Woodward/Newman Drama Award winning play, Miles Away by Christine Whitley.

Miles Away tells the gripping story of Ron and Sissy, desperate pool hustlers on the road and living by their wits alone.  Then they meet Giles, who may or may not be their chance to move up a notch in the world.  Miles Away is a portrait of lives enmeshed in dependency, betrayal, and hope.

“I am thrilled to have Miles Away as the winner of my first award!” says Joanne Woodward, founder and sponsor of the Woodward/Newman drama award. “It’s great for playwrights to have a venue like the BPP to hear and show their work.”

The Woodward/Newman Drama Award is an exclusive honor offered by Bloomington Playwrights Project, sponsored by Newman’s Own Foundation, remembering the many great dramas Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman performed in together.  Playwright Christine Whitley will be awarded with a prize of $3,000 prize in addition to the full production in the BPP’s 10/11 Mainstage Season.

Chosen out of 575 submissions from across the globe, Miles Away stood out as the best of the best.  It’s captivating, engrossing, powerful, and heartening all at the same time. The BPP asked Whitley about her reaction to winning the first ever Woodward/Newman Drama Award.

“I’m flabbergasted.  It’s amazing.  I’m over the moon about it,” exclaimed Whitley.

In a completely unintended and charming coincidence, Miles Away just so happens to have been inspired by one of Paul Newman’s most memorable roles.

“Miles Away is a bit of a riff on The Hustler, and how the dynamic changes when it's a young woman instead of a young man,” says Whitley. “When I was watching it, I thought what if the ace pool player was a girl?”

“I hadn’t even seen The Hustler before reading this play,” explains Director Chad Rabinovitz. “But out of 575 entries, Miles Away was a unanimous favorite amongst myself and the literary committee because the story is incredibly captivating and the play is dramatically entertaining.”

Chloe Williamson (Left) & Lee Parker (right) in Miles Away
photo by Ivona Hedin

Lee Parker (Talley’s Folly, The Liquid Moon) stars as Ron a pool hustler living on the road with the young Sissy, played by Chloe Williamson (Kissing Frogs).  After having been on a run for two years, all the “can’t miss” spots are drying up because of Sissy’s growing reputation as an unbeatable pool player.  They are broke and desperate.  Lovers, they each want out of the miserable life they are living together.  Ron sees a chance to move up with the help of Giles, played by Taylor Crousore (Angels In America), a stakehorse who wants to back Sissy in the lucrative arena of high stakes pool.

Performances of Miles Away are scheduled for April 8 – 23, 2011 every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8pm and the first Sunday at 2pm.

The production of Miles Away is sponsored by Newman’s Own Foundation with support from John & Judith Wetzel & John Samuelson.

Christine Whitley’s first play, The Goatwoman of Corvis County, received its world premiere in August 2008 at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Mass., and is slated for production in 2010 at Pacific Resident Theatre in Los Angeles.  In 2008, her ten-minute play Peep Show was seen Off-Off Broadway in Blue Coyote Theater Group’s evening of short plays, collectively titled Happy Endings.  In the spring of 2010, her one-act play Parents & Children was produced Off-Off Broadway as a part of the Drilling Company Theatre’s short plays project Faith.  Her second full-length play, Miles Away, is the first winner of the Woodward/Newman Drama Award and was a semifinalist for the 2010 O’Neill Playwrights Conference.  A graduate of The University of Cincinnati – College Conservatory of Music, Christine is also a Designated Linklater Voice Teacher.  She is a member of the Dramatists Guild.