Joanne De Simone‘s play, Norma Jeane, Enlightened, will be staged at The Drama Bookshop, New York, on August 2, reports Broadway World.
“On August 5, 1962, Marilyn Monroe, screen goddess, was found dead under uncertain circumstances. Deemed a suicide, many – to this day – believe she was murdered. Celebrated author Joanne de Simone’s riveting play shows that she was indeed murdered … and Hollywood is the culprit. The play finds Marilyn, seconds after her demise on a beach with a lone figure who takes her on the kind of journey one takes only after the final curtain comes down.
This deep character study of one the most enigmatic individuals of the 20th century features Gloria Jung, Holly Elizabeth O’Brien, Jack Dilday, Michael Curcio, Bob Cencioni, Martha Ghio, Eric Kuzmuth, and Danny McDermott.
A prolific writer, de Simone’s latest play, Judy’s Dead, took first prize in last year’s Writer’s Digest Stage Play competition; her one-act, The Suicide Angel, has been optioned as a feature film; and her novel about life in the big city as seen through feline eyes, The Metro Cats: Life in the Core of The Big Apple, is being developed for an animated feature. When not churning out great works of fiction, Ms. de Simone works as a columnist, film historian, and editor.”