Actress Roberta E. Bassin Portrays Amelia Earhart in One-Woman Show

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Accomplished actress Roberta E. Bassin brings out the woman and legend behind a pioneering aviatrix in her one-woman show “Amelia Earhart: In Her Own Words” at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 14 at East Rancho Dominguez Library, 4420 E. Rose St. in East Rancho Dominguez, near Long Beach.

The play is free and open to the public.

An accomplished actress, writer and producer, Bassin explores Amelia Earhart’s adventurous spirit, dedication and courage in the acclaimed production meant to honor March as Women’s History Month. As the play’s author, historian, and actor, Bassin tirelessly researched her subject beyond the headlines, the mystery behind her disappearance and the conjecture that continues today about the legendary aviator’s ultimate fate. A question and answer session will follow the production.

“My objective is to educate, motivate and entertain at the same time to an audience of all ages. We can learn from Amelia Earhart from both her mistakes and achievement,” Bassin said. “She is a timeless figure who brought so much to the world with her courage, her skill and her indomitable spirit to achieve.”

It was on July 2, 1937 that Earhart and her navigator Frederick Noonan vanished near Howland Island, a coral island located about 1,700 miles southwest of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. Her sudden disappearance and the subsequent exhaustive yet unsuccessful searches for her and her plane solidified her place in history as one of the pioneering women of modern times.

In an era when men dominated early aviation, Earhart stood out by becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, making her an international hero. She would go on to set a number of women’s speed and distance records before embarking on her ill-fated round-the-world flight.

In “Amelia Earhart: In Her Own Words,” Bassin portrays Earhart as a strong woman on a mission, as well as the vulnerable figure who few knew and even fewer understood. Bassin’s Earhart reminisces about her record-setting flights, her struggles to become an aviator, as well as her early days growing up with her sister Muriel in the home of her maternal grandfather in Atchison, Kansas.

"She went after what she wanted to do. It takes tremendous courage to overcome things that are in your way... to pursue your interests and have fun doing it,” Bassin said. “In this presentation I’ll be sharing many little-known facts about Amelia Earhart and her amazing life.”

A California native, Bassin has received much acclaim for her compelling portrayals of an array of interesting characters in film, television, and stage, including the film classic “Barfly,” Emmy and Golden Globe winning mini series “Indictment: the McMartin Trial” and Clint Eastwood’s biopic, “J. Edgar.” She has also appeared in many TV commercials and in such television series as “Criminal Minds”, “Grey’s Anatomy,” “ER,” “Crossing Jordan,” “American Dreams,” “The Pretender,” and “Picket Fences.”

Bassin is a UCLA graduate and a proud volunteer instructor for the SAG Conservatory at the American Film Institute. She is online at http://www.imdb.me/robertabassin, https://twitter.com/RobertaBassin and www.facebook.com/roberta.bassin.1.