“Jackass Flats” was first inspired by the personal reminiscences of C.C. Loveheart who grew up in Las Vegas.  In her checkered career, she has acted on stage and screens of all sizes from coast to coast.  She is a Clio award winner and created the character of Coco for Nickolodeon’s “Pinwheel House” for which she still gets fan mail.  She is a Lifetime Member of The Actors’ Studio.  Locally she appeared in 2005 at the Bickford Theatre starring with William Shallert in “The Gin Game”, directed by James Glossman, and in two productions at Shadowland, “The Cripple of Inishmaan” and “Glorious”.

John Simon, C.C.’s husband and frequent collaborator, is a self-described “compulsive musician”.

 As a record producer and performer, he has worked with Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen, The Band, Taj Mahal, Gil Evans, Marshall McLuhan and many others.  He has released several albums of original songs.  His experience writing for the theater began with several musicals during his student days and extended to “Rock and Roll: The First 5000 Years” and a dansical for Twla Tharp, both on Broadway. C.C. and John have appeared in a self-penned cabaret act called “Alone Together For The First Time Again”.

An early version of “Jackass Flats”, which had its inception at The Actors’ Studio, won The Maxwell Anderson Award for the best unproduced play of 1995.  The authors received kind, professional support in the writing of this play from, among others, Susan Batson, Carlin Glynn, Arthur Penn and Brendan Burke.  They are grateful for their interest and encouragement.

 By ANN GIBBONS
Kingston Daily Freeman
June 24, 2011

THIS WEEKEND’S world premiere by Shadowland Theatre, its first in 15 years, could only be set in one locale, in a specific city, at a certain time in a long-ago, nearly forgotten America.

“Jackass Flats” (regrettably, not about politicians) is, nevertheless, a comedy set in Las Vegas in 1952. The play, originally conceived by playwright, CC Loveheart, as a one-act for herself several years ago, has expanded and contracted over several re-writes with husband, John Simon. Ultimately, Loveheart said in an interview this week at the beautifully restored theater, the play is about women, for women. Kay has special plans for a trip with her daughter, but her uptight, out-of-touch sister-in-law, Virginia, gets herself involved. This odd trio of three women takes a road trip to a sunrise picnic at the dawn of the Nuclear Age.

“Las Vegas is a great place to tell stories,” said Loveheart, who grew up there in the 1950s. “There is no place like it in the entire country,” she said, observing that it’s a mirror – or a shadow – of the nation.

Loveheart and Simon set the play in 1952, which they consider a peak in the city’s and the nation’s history. “It was a boom time, right after the war, when so many things were happening. It also was the beginning of the Nuclear Age,” Loveheart said.

At that time, she said, Las Vegas was a city of just 10,000 people, run by three main powers: the Italian mafia, the Jewish mafia and the Mormon Church. “And, Las Vegas was glamorous, like ’40s Hollywood was glamorous, mixed in with a Western sensibility,” she recalled.

Loveheart said, because of the atom bomb tests, the fledgling gambling culture and the atmosphere of the wide-open West, the play could only take place where it does – Las Vegas. “Life in Las Vegas was funny and paradoxical,” she mused.  “And, making people laugh,” she said, “really is the best medicine.”

Despite her memories, humorous and otherwise, Loveheart said she has no urge to return to Las Vegas after a trip about a dozen years ago. “There is so little virgin desert left. And, the pollution, this hideous, gray-green glob hangs from mountain to mountain,” she said shuddering.

Simon, also a songwriter of note, said, when asked about working with his wife on a play solely about women, commented, “Well, in every man there’s a girl inside!” On a serious note, he said he’s always been attracted to Loveheart’s stories. “They’re riddled with life about Vegas,” he said.

He said when the couple decided to collaborate to expand the play, Loveheart drove wherever they were going. He was the passenger and took notes while she told stories.

“At one point, at the suggestion of Arthur Penn (the director of  “Bonnie and Clyde”),” Simon said, “we wrote in the men, the ones the women in the play talk about. Then, we wrote them out.”

“The play is unusual,” Loveheart observed, “because there are not many plays written just for women actors.”

That feature, explained Brendan Burke, Shadowland producing artistic director and director of the play, was, among its other strengths, a singular attraction for the company.

“It’s hard to find plays with good roles for women,” Burke pointed out.

Furthermore, Burke said, its theme is current and topical, as well as socially relevant. Most importantly, he said, “It’s a good play.”