Westport Community Theatre's ETC Hosts An Evening Of One Acts With Theme Of 'Playing God' 7/17, Free to Public

Next up at Westport Community Theatre's ETC One-night only: Friday, July 17 at 8:00 PM, An evening of short one act performances based on the theme "Playing God" Free admission
Coffee and treats after the show with the cast.

Westport Community Theatre presents this special theatrical event FREE to all!*

Playing God brings to the Westport Community Theatre stage five one-act plays that were finalists in the recent Eastbound Summer competition at Eastbound Theatre in Milford, Connecticut.

This year the applicant field was open to both domestic and international playwrights, resulting in submissions from around the world. The topic given to each playwright was "playing God" - and the resulting submissions cleverly crafted many diverse and far-reaching variations on the theme! Submissions were narrowed to five finalists ( Apple, DIY Valentine, The O'Neill Group, Laying Off and The Man with the Flamingo), with one winner selected by the Eastbound audience.

Local directors Tom Rushen (director of Importance of Being Earnest at WCT), Robert Watts (Vice President of WCT), Jack Rushen and Michael Shavel have assembled a talented cast of actors - and all five playwrights have impressive resumes:

Michael Burgan (DIY Valentine) A freelance writer, Michael has written more than 200 books for kids, both fiction and non-fiction. He studied playwriting for one year in the MFA program at Emerson College, has taken various workshops since, and is a member of the Dramatists Guild. Michael has won several awards for his writing, and his plays have been read, workshopped, or produced in New York, Boston, Chicago, California, Florida, and Canada, among others. DIY Valentine is his first Connecticut production since relocating to his home state after five years in Chicago.

George Freek (The O'Neill Group) George's play Not 2B recently won first prize in the Nancy Weil New Play Search Competition. Other plays have been produced by the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, the Changing Scene in Denver, the Revolution Theater Company in Chicago, the Sandy Springs (MD), Theater Group, the West Coast Ensemble in LA, the Pittsburgh New Works Festival, the 13th Street Theater in New York, the Theater-Studio in New York, the Heartland Theater in Michigan, the Questionable Theater Players in Sacramento, and the Vortex Theater in Austin, Texas, as well as being produced in the UK, Canada, Malta, Australia, and Kenya and by many high schools and colleges. Spending playwriting residencies at the New American Theater in Rockford, Illinois; Southern Methodist University; and Southern Illinois University, he has received grants from the Illinois Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. Of George's plays, Bluebeard has been published by Smith & Kraus in 2007 Best Ten Minute Plays for 3 Actors,Waiting for Julia by Playscripts, Inc.; Who's Hamlet, Pluck,Mondo Pizzicato, and an abridgement of Sheridan's The School for Scandal by Lazy Bee Scripts in the UK, Sweet Youth by Jasper Publications in the UK, and The Gold Standard* by ArtAge Publications.

James McLindon (Laying Off) James' play, Safe, has just been named a finalist for the Heideman Award offered by The Actors Theatre of Louisville and for the 2009 Humana Festival of New American Plays, and was recently produced again at the 2008 Boston Theatre Marathon, as well as by Circus. This summer he has been developing two new full-length plays, Saving Grace and Faith, at the PlayPenn Conference, Seven Devils Playwrights Conference and the Lark Theatre's Playwrights' Week. Previously, James had two plays produced in Chicago, People II and Making It, the latter of which was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Play. He has had eleven plays in production over the last year, ten of them world premieres. James' plays have received numerous awards and have been developed and produced in theaters all over the country. His play, Distant Music, was one of three finalists for the Kaufman and Hart Prize for New American Comedy in 2004, and his play Dusk was produced by the Grove Theatre in L.A. last June, and has been optioned for off-Broadway.

Trevor Suthers (Apple) has had over 40 pieces of theatre staged, broadcasted or screened in almost 70 productions, ranging from monologues and sketches, to musicals and pantomimes. He has had both one-act and full-length plays produced in the US, Manchester, London, Edinburgh, Brighton, Salisbury, and all around the North West of the UK in every imaginable venue from mainstage, to theatre foyer, to various bars. Trevor has been the story editor for the top TV soap, Coronation Street, has written episodes of Eastenders, and has produced over 30 shows and 14 performances of the topical satire show, Headline Cabaret, since it's inception in 1993. This year, he produced the critically acclaimed JB Shorts, six short plays by top TV writers, to sell-out audiences in Manchester.

The winning playwright was local actor / playwright Nikita Shpilberg, who has worked behind-the-scenes at Westport Community Theatre and just completed a role in WCT's last production of "Don't Drink the Water"!

Nikita Shpilberg* (The Man with the Flamingo) Nik was educated at the University of Connecticut, and in September will be attending Actors Studio MFA Playwriting Track program at Pace University in New York City. Recently, Nik performed the role of Krojack in Westport Community Theatre's production of Woody Allen's, Don't Drink The Water. Born in Russia, he has lived in CT for the last nine years. The Man with the Flamingo is his first staged play.

Join us for what promises to be a fun evening showcasing the talents of up-and-coming playwrights along with area actors and directors! Westport Community Theatre is located at Westport Town Hall, 110 Myrtle Avenue, Westport, Connecticut - go to www.westportcommunitytheatre.com for directions.

No reservations necessary - FREE to all!

 

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