Baltimore Playwrights Festival Hosts Public Play-Reading Marathon 2/11

The Baltimore Playwrights Festival announces a public play-reading marathon to take place on Saturday, February 11th, at The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theater, 817 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21202, (410) 752-1225. Beginning at 11:00 a.m. plays to be read are Strangers by Stanley Gabor, directed by Sammie Real, followed at 1:00 p.m. by Secret Life by Stephen Kilduff, directed by Miriam Bazensky and at 3:00 p.m. by The Rainbow Plays by Rich Espey. After each reading there will be a discussion of the script with the playwright, director and actors. The event is free, and the general public is encouraged to attend.

Strangers, by Stanley C. Gabor, tells the story of how after bringing Roy home, Alan, unsure of his sexuality, invites his close colleague Kate to join them for a night of ribaldry and revelation. In a New York evening these two classics professors have their lives challenged and changed by the young stranger from Oklahoma, who has an uncertain agenda of his own.

Stanley C. Gabor is Dean Emeritus at Johns Hopkins University. He came to Baltimore in 1982 from New York University. He holds degrees in history and law and has taught classes in leadership and classics.

In Secret Life, by Stephen Kilduff, Tara and Bruce are getting married, though neither one knows why. Miles and Rosalie have been married more than thirty years, though neither one knows how. When these two couples get together, everyone starts to question the choices they have made and the stories that hold their lives, and their identities, together.

Stephen Kilduff began writing plays in 2004, and the following year he received an Individual Artist Award in Playwriting from the Maryland State Arts Council. In 2005 he attended the Sewanee Writers Conference as a participant in the playwriting seminar, under the direction of Romulus Linney and Daisy Foote. His play Snow on the Stand was produced in August 2006 at the American Theatre of Actors in New York. The Uncurled Hand was named winner of the 2007 New Play Festival at Centre Stage South Carolina in Greenville and was produced there in July 2008. Another play, Graven Image, was produced in the summer of 2008 by Uncommon Voices as part of the Baltimore Playwrights Festival.

The Rainbow Plays, by Rich Espey, are a collection of seven short plays that focus on what it means to be a gay person in America. In its current version the Rainbow Flag that symbolizes the gay pride and gay rights movement consists of six horizontal stripes, each of which has a symbolic meaning: red (life), orange (healing), yellow (sunshine), green (nature), blue (harmony) and purple (spirit). The first six plays in this collection each address one of those themes; the seventh play incorporates them all into one.

Rich Espey’s plays have been produced throughout the United States. Recent highlights include Rice Futures at the 2010 Source Festival and Three Andys produced by Single Carrot Theatre at the Baltimore Museum of Art. His award-winning play Hope’s Arbor was produced by Gallery Players in New York City in June, 2008. Rich is a two time winner of the Carol Weinberg Award for best play at the Baltimore Playwrights Festival. He is a D.C./Baltimore Regional co-representative of the Dramatists Guild, a member of DC’s Playwrights Gymnasium and the Playwrights Group of Baltimore, has served as Chair of the Baltimore Playwrights Festival and is currently the President of the Board of Single Carrot Theatre. Rich proudly teaches science at The Park School of Baltimore.

The Baltimore Playwrights Festival has presented 273 scripts by 165 playwrights, produced by 25 different companies, over the past 30 Years. Our mission is to provide an environment that nurtures the talents of Maryland and DC playwrights through public readings, discussions, critiques and workshopping of new plays. Our summer season is devoted to the presentation of these newly developed works to area audiences in cooperation with local area theaters. Further information can be found at www.baltplayfest.org.

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