'Guiding Light' Cast Reunites for 'Breathing Under Dirt' Staged Reading

From left to right: Tina Sloan, Michael O'eary, Beth Chamberlin, Grant Aleksander and Yvonna Kopacz Wright. Photo Credit: Sue Coflin/Max Photos

On May 12, cast members from iconic soap opera Guiding Light reunited for a stage reading of "Breathing Under Dirt," an award-winning play by Michael O'Leary, at The Ward Museum in Salisbury, Maryland.

Joining Leary (who played Rick Bauer on Guiding Light) were former soap co-stars Grant Aleksander (Phillip Spaulding), Tina Sloan (Lillian Raines), Beth Chamberlin (Beth Raines) and Yvonna Kopacz Wright (Mel Boudreau Bauer).

"Breathing Under Dirt," set in the 1950s, explores the expression of forgiveness and reconciliation while we still have life.

Check out more photos below.

'Guiding Light' Stars Beth Chamberlin and Tina Sloan Reunite for Michael O'Leary Play, Directed by Grant Aleksander

Longtime Guiding Light actor Michael O'Leary (Dr. Rick Bauer) will be reuniting with a a few beloved former co-stars in his new one act play, "Breathing Under Dirt," next month. "Breathing Under Dirt" will premiere at the Manhattan Repertory Theater in mid-March.

The One Act festival production will feature Leary, along with Beth Chamberlin (Beth Raines) and Tina Sloan (Lillian Raines) in lead roles. Sloan and Chamberlin play mother and daughter once again in the period piece, set in the 1950s, with a relationship full of resentment.

The play will be directed another veteran Guiding Light star, Grant Aleksander (Phillip Spaulding).

"Breathing Under Dirt" is about reaching forgiveness and reconciliation while we still have life. A heart can be healed when we accept the limitations of ourselves and others

Location:
Manhattan Repertory Theater
303 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036

Performance Schedule:
March 16, 17, 18 and 19. 6-9 p.m. Finals for the competition will be March 31 and April 1 at 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Tickets:
Tickets can be reserved at mrtreserve@gmail.com and are $20.00 dollars. You pay at the door. The house is small (around 48 seats) so tickets are limited.

'Guiding Light' Star and Fitness Pro Beth Chamberlin: "Anybody That's Out There That Has Something They Want To Do, Do It!"

Have you ever wanted to try something new but were too afraid? Beth Chamberlin starred as Beth Raines on Guiding Light for 15 years, and when the show was canceled, she made the choice to pursue other passions.

In addition to her career roles as actress and fitness instructor, Chamberlin is also a mother, who witnessed many women, struggling as she had, to prioritize fitness into their jam packed schedules. Today, she is a certified kettlebell trainer as well as the proud owner of Nyack Boot Camp, a training facility located in Nyack, New York, where she conducts High Intensity Interval Training. She has also produced two kettlebell fitness videos and continues to lecture about health and fitness.

Chamberlin aspires everyday to bring out the best in herself and encourages anyone with a dream and the ambition to pursue it that new beginnings are always possible.

Check out the multi-talented Beth Chamberlin's inspiring new video below:

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Catching Up With Ellen Wheeler As She Begins A New Project With Old Friends (Part 2 of 2)

Michael O'Leary, Yvonna Wright and Ellen Wheeler.
Photo Credit: Sue Coflin/Max Photos

We Love Soaps spoke with former GUIDING LIGHT executive producer Ellen Wheeler, who recently reunited with a group of alums from the show's cast and crew on a fall Sunday for a day of taping, talking and pizza. Dubbed "A New Project With Old Friends," it was a chance for much of the old gang to get back together, shoot some scenes and catch up.

Read Part 1 of our exclusive interview here, and read Part 2 below.

WE LOVE SOAPS: When I visited the studio and Peapack in the final year of GUIDING LIGHT, the set had an really nice indie vibe to it, something you don't see much with a broadcast TV show.
ELLEN WHEELER: We were saying something like, "I want this to keep going because I understand it's important. GUIDING LIGHT has been chronicling American life since before World War 2, and I want to continue to chronicle American life. I want to show the stories of the people in American back to them so they have a place to talk from." It's not unlike pitching in when some hard or tragic moment kicks in. In the beginning people might have been thinking to themselves, "Oh my God, I might lose my job," but near the end it wasn't about it.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Catching Up With Ellen Wheeler As She Begins A New Project With Old Friends (Part 1 of 2)

Left to Right: Kurt McKinney, Frank Dicopoulos, Robert Newman,
Ellen Wheeler, Michael O'Leary and Jordan Clarke.
Photo Credit: Sue Coflin/Max Photos.

Former GUIDING LIGHT executive producer Ellen Wheeler began her career in Daytime as an actress. She landed the role of Marley Love on ANOTHER WORLD in 1984 and, a year later, she began playing Marley's twin, Victoria. Soon, she won an Emmy (for work in 1986).

She took on the role of Cindy Parker on ALL MY CHILDREN the next year, in what turned out to be one of the most moving HIV/AIDS stories ever told on television, and won another Emmy (for her work in 1988).

Primetime roles on DARK SHADOWS, HUNTER, STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE and ER followed. She guest-starred on THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL and returned to ANOTHER WORLD as Marley for its final year. That's when she first moved behind the camera and directed episodes of AS THE WORLD TURNS, earning three more Emmy nominations. Then, in 2004, Wheeler was named executive producer of GUIDING LIGHT.

Ranked last among the nine remaining daytime soap operas (at the time, in the key ratings demo) GUIDING LIGHT was only beating PASSIONS in total viewers. Forced to move to a new production model, with little time for the cast and crew to adjust (and no time at all for the audience), ratings dipped again in 2008, as the loss of fan favorites Beth Ehlers and Ricky Paul Goldin exacerbated the sense the show was, at times, physically jarring to watch.

Ironically, by the start of 2009 (CBS announced cancellation of the 72-year-old soap on April Fools Day) GUIDING LIGHT was back on solid footing. Some of the technical kinks had been worked out, Grant Aleksander returned as Phillip Spaulding and the Olivia and Natalia slow-burn love story garnered the show more buzz than it had received in years. Nevertheless, GUIDING LIGHT went off the air on September 18, 2009, with cast and crew moving on to other projects.

Wheeler and oher GL alums recently got together on a beautiful fall Sunday for a day of taping, talking and pizza. Dubbed "A New Project With Old Friends," it was a chance for much of the old gang to get back together, shoot some scenes and catch up. We Love Soaps recently spoke with Wheeler about this reunion, what she's been doing since GUIDING LIGHT and where it might go in the future.

Read Part 1 of our exclusive interview below.

Beth Chamberlin Launches Women's Fitness Empowerment Project

When GUIDING LIGHT alum Beth Chamberlin took her husband’s advice and started training with kettlebells five years ago, her physical transformation was so rapid and profound that she found herself being approached and questioned about how she was able to change her body so quickly. “About six weeks after I started working out with kettlebells, one of my co-stars asked me where I got my new arms and how could she get some of her own,” said Chamberlin. “I realized then that I had found something special.”

Not long after that Beth began studying to become a kettlebell training instructor. Upon achieving that rank she set about producing the first of two popular kettlebell training DVDs that have received widespread critical and popular acclaim in the ensuing four years. Amongst the thousands of letters thanking Beth for her training programs, two common themes became apparent: women spoke of being empowered by their newfound strength and fitness and they asked when Beth would produce more of her incredible training DVDs.

50 Greatest Soap Couples: #25 Phillip & Beth From GUIDING LIGHT

COUPLE: Phillip Spaulding & Beth Raines
SHOW: GUIDING LIGHT
RANK: 25
PLAYED BY:
Phillip: Grant Aleksander, John Bolger
Beth: Judi Evans, Beth Chamberlin
YEARS: 1983-1986, 1989-1991, 1996-2004, 2009

STORY:
Phillip met Beth at the hospital when he was visiting Mindy Lewis (Krista Tesreau).   Along with Rick Bauer (Michael O'Leary), the four of them became known as The Four Museketeers.  At Phillip, Rick and Beth's prom, Phillip and Beth connected but spent the summer fighting their feelings. Rick was interested in Beth and Phillip dated Mindy.  At Mindy's 18th birthday party, Phillip and Beth finally confessed their love for each other.  They were interrupted by Beth's evil and sexually abusive step-father, Bradley Raines (James Rebhorn), who revealed to Phillip that Justin Marler was his biological father (a secret GUIDING LIGHT kept since the character of Phillip was introduced in November 1977).  Phillip eventually learned that Bradley was abusing Beth and the two of them went on the run to New York City (Rick and Mindy would soon join them).

CLASSIC CLIPS: Phillip & Beth in GUIDING LIGHT 1990

In 1990 Phillip learned Beth's baby on GUIDING LIGHT was his! Watch the clip below: