Christine Conrad's Blog
April 23, 2013
Under My Skin
Under My Skin
Series 5 Episode 1 of 3
Duration:
15 minutes
First broadcast:
Friday 16 March 2012
Martin Jarvis directs award-winning American star Calista Flockhart in Christine Conrad's devastating new tale of friendship gone awry. Two creative women in New York find they have much in common. But when gregarious, entrepreneurial Julie commandeers her less outgoing friend's new novel and announces it as her own film project, the relationship is inevitably dislocated. Julie is quoted as saying: 'A wonderful treatment has been written and my brilliant team and I are moving forward with great excitement and (Julie's favourite word) passion.'
As far as her erstwhile friend, the actual author of the book, is concerned 'The train had left the station and nobody had bothered to mention it to me!' The gradual realisation that they really aren't 'sisters under the skin', is movingly told. 'Under My Skin' is specially written for Original Shorts by American novelist and screen writer Christine Conrad (Junior, Mademoiselle Benoit, Ties That Bind.) And perceptively performed by Calista Flockhart - star of TV series Ally McBeal and Kitty McCallister in Brothers and Sisters.
Director: Martin Jarvis
A Jarvis & Ayres production for BBC Radio 4. Show less
Series 5 Episode 1 of 3
Duration:
15 minutes
First broadcast:
Friday 16 March 2012
Martin Jarvis directs award-winning American star Calista Flockhart in Christine Conrad's devastating new tale of friendship gone awry. Two creative women in New York find they have much in common. But when gregarious, entrepreneurial Julie commandeers her less outgoing friend's new novel and announces it as her own film project, the relationship is inevitably dislocated. Julie is quoted as saying: 'A wonderful treatment has been written and my brilliant team and I are moving forward with great excitement and (Julie's favourite word) passion.'
As far as her erstwhile friend, the actual author of the book, is concerned 'The train had left the station and nobody had bothered to mention it to me!' The gradual realisation that they really aren't 'sisters under the skin', is movingly told. 'Under My Skin' is specially written for Original Shorts by American novelist and screen writer Christine Conrad (Junior, Mademoiselle Benoit, Ties That Bind.) And perceptively performed by Calista Flockhart - star of TV series Ally McBeal and Kitty McCallister in Brothers and Sisters.
Director: Martin Jarvis
A Jarvis & Ayres production for BBC Radio 4. Show less
April 23, 2012
Watermill Revisited
I've just put up my new book, "Watermill Revisited" (an ebook, a first for me)and it is available on Amazon, B&N, ipad, iphone, and honestly I don't know where else! Maybe on the Moon, if anyone up there can read.
This press release just went out:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Exclusive Details On One of the Most Important Artists of the 20th Century
Los Angeles, CA, April 18, 2012 - The price Jerome Robbins paid in his personal life for his art was extraordinarily high. Watermill Revisited, the new e-book from Christine Conrad, provides a unique understanding of the controversial ballet Watermill, and weaves her long relationship with this internationally acclaimed director and choreographer into a fascinating story that connects Watermill with the underlying stresses of Robbins’ romantic relationships.
Filled with details never before revealed, Conrad explains how Watermill followed an extremely shattering personal time for this brilliant artist. And as Robbins pointed out in his work notebooks, it was autobiographical and he was ‘healing.’
Created in 1971 for New York City Ballet and influenced by Japanese Noh drama, Watermill has been described as one of the most unusual pieces from this renowned choreographer. Reviewers either loved or hated it and it was decidedly controversial where ballet audiences were concerned. The combination of its slow pacing, unconventional images, and bold sexual dance moves provoked a mixture of stunned silence or enthusiastic applause at the end of performances.
Water Mill is the name of a beach town on Long Island where Jerome Robbins had rented houses. He loved being by the ocean. It was his retreat from the city; a place where he found peace in the solitude and scenery and allowed him time to reflect and regroup.
In Watermill Revisited, Conrad makes the link with an earlier ballet, Facsimile, that told of a similar tale of triangulating between lovers – a pattern Robbins was never able to conquer in his lifetime. Filled with details from journals written by this very private man during his lifetime, this absorbing book gives lovers of theater and dance a read not easy to put down.
Watermill Revisited is the author’s second book about Jerome Robbins; the first being her pictorial biography Jerome Robbins: That Broadway Man, That Ballet Man. However, in Watermill Revisited the writer goes into greater detail about her relationship with Robbins and adds new levels of intriguing details about him that have never been revealed until now.
Watermill Revisited follows Christine Conrad’s well-reviewed novel Mademoiselle Benoir, written in epistolary form and inspired by a true story. Conrad began working full-time as a writer for film and television in Los Angeles in the early 1980’s, and is well-known for originating the screenplay of Junior which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. Her short stories have been featured on BBC Radio and she has received rave reviews from The London Times, Daily Telegraph, and others. Raised in NYC, she has worked in theatre, as an editor in book publishing, and as New York City film commissioner.
Christine’s life took an unexpected turn when a serious illness in the mid-1990’s galvanized her to become an advocate for women’s health. This encouraged her to write two best-selling books on natural hormone replacement and launch her non-profit foundation www.naturalwoman.org that has helped thousands of women get life-changing treatment.
This press release just went out:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Exclusive Details On One of the Most Important Artists of the 20th Century
Los Angeles, CA, April 18, 2012 - The price Jerome Robbins paid in his personal life for his art was extraordinarily high. Watermill Revisited, the new e-book from Christine Conrad, provides a unique understanding of the controversial ballet Watermill, and weaves her long relationship with this internationally acclaimed director and choreographer into a fascinating story that connects Watermill with the underlying stresses of Robbins’ romantic relationships.
Filled with details never before revealed, Conrad explains how Watermill followed an extremely shattering personal time for this brilliant artist. And as Robbins pointed out in his work notebooks, it was autobiographical and he was ‘healing.’
Created in 1971 for New York City Ballet and influenced by Japanese Noh drama, Watermill has been described as one of the most unusual pieces from this renowned choreographer. Reviewers either loved or hated it and it was decidedly controversial where ballet audiences were concerned. The combination of its slow pacing, unconventional images, and bold sexual dance moves provoked a mixture of stunned silence or enthusiastic applause at the end of performances.
Water Mill is the name of a beach town on Long Island where Jerome Robbins had rented houses. He loved being by the ocean. It was his retreat from the city; a place where he found peace in the solitude and scenery and allowed him time to reflect and regroup.
In Watermill Revisited, Conrad makes the link with an earlier ballet, Facsimile, that told of a similar tale of triangulating between lovers – a pattern Robbins was never able to conquer in his lifetime. Filled with details from journals written by this very private man during his lifetime, this absorbing book gives lovers of theater and dance a read not easy to put down.
Watermill Revisited is the author’s second book about Jerome Robbins; the first being her pictorial biography Jerome Robbins: That Broadway Man, That Ballet Man. However, in Watermill Revisited the writer goes into greater detail about her relationship with Robbins and adds new levels of intriguing details about him that have never been revealed until now.
Watermill Revisited follows Christine Conrad’s well-reviewed novel Mademoiselle Benoir, written in epistolary form and inspired by a true story. Conrad began working full-time as a writer for film and television in Los Angeles in the early 1980’s, and is well-known for originating the screenplay of Junior which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. Her short stories have been featured on BBC Radio and she has received rave reviews from The London Times, Daily Telegraph, and others. Raised in NYC, she has worked in theatre, as an editor in book publishing, and as New York City film commissioner.
Christine’s life took an unexpected turn when a serious illness in the mid-1990’s galvanized her to become an advocate for women’s health. This encouraged her to write two best-selling books on natural hormone replacement and launch her non-profit foundation www.naturalwoman.org that has helped thousands of women get life-changing treatment.
March 9, 2012
Under My Skin
My latest short story is about to be read on BBC Radio 4, March 16th! It will be read by Calista Flockhart (Ally McBeal and Brothers & Sisters) and it follows the story between two women of friendship and betrayal.
Streamlined from March 16 through 23rd
www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/programmes/a-z/p...
Martin Jarvis directs American star Calista Flockhart in Christine Conrad’s devastating new tale of friendship gone awry, specially written for Original Shorts.
Two creative women in New York find they have much in common. But when gregarious, entrepreneurial Julie commandeers her less outgoing friend’s new novel and announces it as her own film-project, the relationship is inevitably dislocated.
Reader/Calista Flockhart, Producer and Director/Martin Jarvis for Jarvis and Ayres Productions
BBC Radio 4 Publicity
Original Shorts
3.45pm Radio 4
Budgets on Radio dramas and readings are miniscule when placed against those available to TV companies and don't even bear comparison with the spend on films. A combination of sourcing quality material and being lucky enough to know great actors has meant that the husband and wife partnership of Martin Jarvis and Rosalind Ayers has consistently offered up starry productions on the radio airwaves. Now they have commissioned three short stories especially for Radio 4, starting with a twisted tale of female friendship gone horribly wrong. And the reader is no less than Ally McBeal and Brothers & Sisters star Calista Flockhart. She does a very good turn as a woman scorned.
Radio Times
Streamlined from March 16 through 23rd
www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/programmes/a-z/p...
Martin Jarvis directs American star Calista Flockhart in Christine Conrad’s devastating new tale of friendship gone awry, specially written for Original Shorts.
Two creative women in New York find they have much in common. But when gregarious, entrepreneurial Julie commandeers her less outgoing friend’s new novel and announces it as her own film-project, the relationship is inevitably dislocated.
Reader/Calista Flockhart, Producer and Director/Martin Jarvis for Jarvis and Ayres Productions
BBC Radio 4 Publicity
Original Shorts
3.45pm Radio 4
Budgets on Radio dramas and readings are miniscule when placed against those available to TV companies and don't even bear comparison with the spend on films. A combination of sourcing quality material and being lucky enough to know great actors has meant that the husband and wife partnership of Martin Jarvis and Rosalind Ayers has consistently offered up starry productions on the radio airwaves. Now they have commissioned three short stories especially for Radio 4, starting with a twisted tale of female friendship gone horribly wrong. And the reader is no less than Ally McBeal and Brothers & Sisters star Calista Flockhart. She does a very good turn as a woman scorned.
Radio Times
February 10, 2011
Ties That Bind
My short story Ties That Bind is currently being read by Kathleen Turner (lucky me!) on BBC Radio 4. You can hear it online.
The review in the London Times calls it,"an acute piece by the novelist Christine Conrad about a woman who discovers that there are negatives as well as positives in returning to live near your mother and sister. The former is argumentative and the latter feels threatened on her territory.
Writing the piece was a very satisfying experience and I am now working on another story for the producers Jarvis & Ayres and BBC Radio 4.
The review in the London Times calls it,"an acute piece by the novelist Christine Conrad about a woman who discovers that there are negatives as well as positives in returning to live near your mother and sister. The former is argumentative and the latter feels threatened on her territory.
Writing the piece was a very satisfying experience and I am now working on another story for the producers Jarvis & Ayres and BBC Radio 4.
