Independent feature "The Grotto," directed by Joanna Gleason, opens Friday May 16 at the Noho ... More Laemmle in Los Angeles followed by an event screening on Monday May 19 at the Regal Union Square in New York City.

Actress, singer, teacher, Tony Award winner, and director and writer of the award-winning independent movie The Grotto . For Joanna Gleason, the path to writing and directing her first feature film is a shining moment in a career that continues to evolve.

No stranger to the entertainment business, Joanna Gleason (born Joanne Hall in Toronto, Canada) is the daughter of the legendary Let’s Make a Deal host Monty Hall.

“Dad never brought show business home, but I saw how recognizable he became. From the outside looking in, we were a showbiz family. Inside the house, however, we were not,” said Joanna Gleason, who is currently appearing on the New York stage in the new play We Had a World by Joshua Harmon ( Prayer for the French Republic ) at the Manhattan Theatre Club.

Joanna Gleason is currently appearing on stage in the new play "We Had a World" by Joshua Harris.

“My folks took us to the theater when we lived in New Rochelle. I remember seeing shows like Bye Bye Birdie with Gretchen Wyler and Gene Rayburn; and How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying with Robert Morse, Rudy Vallee, and Michele Lee. It was love at first sight.”

“Later, while at Beverly Hills High School, there was a drama teacher named John Ingle, who also taught Richard Dreyfuss and Laraine Newman, and others,” she added. “So many students under his guidance segued to successful acting careers. And from then on, I was convinced I wanted to work in the theater.”

Flash to 1988 and Joanna Gleason won the Tony Award in the category of Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for originating the role of the Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods . It was her second of three Tony nominations (following the play A Day in the Death of Joe Egg in 1985, and the musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in 2005, both as Best Featured Actress).

Earlier, Gleason’s professional acting career on stage began with her performance in a production of the musical Fiddler on the Roof in 1972 . At the time, she made two more appearances in different plays, but it was 1977 when she bowed on Broadway in the play, I Love My Wife (and she won a Theatre World Award for her effort).

“In theater, you are part of a bigger story than yourself. And your goal, like a service organization, is to turn on the lights in somebody's brain or heart out in the audience,” noted Gleason. “Your job is to convey, and you can feel when an audience is with you and when they want to know more. You can experience when they put aside their fears or preconceived notions, and you just take them into this new world.”

Other Broadway shows followed, including Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing and Nick & Nora (the latter as Nora Charles). And the seeds for a career on the stage for Joanna Gleason were planted. But the economics of working in show business, particularly at the beginning, warrant a diversity in platforms.”

“When I was doing I Love My Wife, I was making $850 per week. So, when I came back to California after my year in New York with the show, I started going out for pilots and for TV series, which can be more stable income for actors.”

Flash to the present and Joanna Gleason’s resume, to-date, includes regularly scheduled roles in five television sitcoms (including Love & War from Murphy Brown creator Diane English, and Bette Midler sitcom Bette ). Gleason has also actively made the rounds as a guest star, with appearances on TV series including sitcom Friends (as Kim, one of Rachel’s bosses at Ralph Lauren Corporation), and dramas The Affair, ER , The Good Wife , The Good Fight , The Practice, Blue Bloods, and the recurring role as attorney Jordon Kendall in The West Wing.

“Television, of course, is a different experience than doing theater, and part of me was restless because I wasn't getting to use everything that I felt I used in the theater,” noted Gleason, who has also been teaching since 1987 when she was asked to do a workshop at N.Y.'s Circle In The Square Theatre School. “I spoke to Diane English about wanting to use more of myself and she was brave enough to give me the opportunity to direct an episode of Love & War. By the time I started directing, I really felt more complete. It set the foundation for when I am directing today.”

On the big screen, Gleason has amassed a variety of roles in films that include The Skeleton Twins, Boogie Nights, The Wedding Planner, Crimes and Misdemeanors, the first Sex and the City theatrical (as a therapist), and Hannah and Her Sisters . Now, and behind the scenes, her debut as a feature filmmaker – a “miracle” in her words – will begin care of The Grotto , which opens Friday May 16 at the Noho Laemmle in Los Angeles followed by an event screening on Monday May 19 at the Regal Union Square in New York City.

^{The Grotto}

Described as a “coming-of-middle age” story, The Grotto tells the tale of a 40-something year-old music manager named Alice Kendall (Betsy Brandt), who after her fiancé dies unexpectedly and she loses her job, inherits half ownership of “The Grotto,” a struggling nightclub in Joshua Tree, California. Traveling alongside her newfound friend (Dan Bucatinsky), Alice discovers the secret dual life of her late fiancé and meets a new cast of characters, including the owner of the club (Jonathan Del Arco) and a potential new love interest (Steve Kazee), all of whom are thrust into her future.

Betsy Brant and Dan Bucatinsky are featured in independent film ":The Grotto," which opens in select ... More theaters on October 18.

“At the time when I first began writing The Grotto , I really felt a connection to this character. I was in my 40s as well, my marriage was over, my job ended, and I needed a new place to live. Everything just fell apart,” remembered Gleason. “My therapy was to write about it, which took the form of a screenplay. But there was that ‘who do you think you are’ voice in my head that caused me to put it on hold.”

“Eventually, I took it out again, and I met Todd Shotz when he was prepping my nephew for his Bar Mitzvah. And it was in his capacity as a producer that we got to collaborate,” she added.

Wearing multiple hats, Todd Shotz is the Founder and the Executive Director of Hebrew Helpers , a Bar and Bat Mitzvah tutoring company; and an Emmy Award-winning film and TV producer from T42 Entertainment (who is also a leading consultant on Jewish representation in all forms of entertainment).

“My son, Aaron, said ‘you have to meet with Todd Shotz and give him your script.’ So, I did, and he and his producing partner Tim Kirkman became true partners in getting the film made. I was then fortunate enough to meet Laure Sudreau, who became our lead producer. Suddenly, everything clicked. There are miracles in The Grotto . Plausible magic happens in The Grotto . And this was all part of it.”

Joanna Gleason directing a scene in "The Grotto."

Nova Vento Entertainment and FLMKR have partnered to release The Grotto , with the former handling theatrical, and the latter releasing the film on digital platforms. On the heels of its opening, the film has scored a host of accolades (including winning the Annapolis Film Festival, the Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival, the Heartland International Film Festival, and the Garden State Film Festival).

Betsy Brandt as Alice Kendall and Steve Kazee as Gideon James find a connection in "The Grotto."

From this writer’s perspective, The Grotto is a film that I simply wanted more of. The characters run the gamut of comfortable and familiar to quirky and unorthodox. The desert setting offers an endless well for storytelling. The journey of Betsy Brandt as Alice Kendall, a tale of initial denial into eventual acceptance, is completely likeable and relatable. And the feeling at the end of the film is one of hope and inspiration.

Note to any content creator reading this feature: I see The Grotto as a spinoff TV series.

Coming Up

From the daughter of the beloved Monty Hall to a Tony-winning career on stage to television and film actress to the writer and director of her first feature film, Joanna Gleason is now putting the proverbial pen to paper in a memoir.

“Of course, there is the obligatory weaving in of the work that people know me for. If you're going to read a book by me, a memoir, you're going to want to hear about Into The Woods , other shows, and the people in my life,” said Gleason. “But much of it will be about other things; what my life was like growing up, all the moves we made, all the stuff I got to do, my successes, my disappointments. We’ll call it a work-in-progress.”

In addition to currently appearing in a play for the first time in 13 years, Joanna Gleason is also working on her next feature film, which is a drama she is producing with her sister Sharon Hall that she refers to as “very different from The Grotto .”

“I can’t talk about it yet, but it's pretty much going to happen,” said Gleason. “And I'm busier than ever. In retrospect, I’ve had my ups and my downs, both personally and professionally, and it all has led to where I am today.”

“I look forward to what is next,” she said.

"The Grotto" follows a 40-something music manager (Betsy Brandt) who inherits half ownership of a ... More struggling nightclub in the California desert where she discovers eccentric performers and a heartbreaking secret.