OCPA Presents THE BISHOP'S 18 WIVES at Theatre Out, 3/1

OCPA Studios presents The Bishop's 18 Wives, a new play by John Byrd on SATURDAY, March 1 - 2:30pm at Theatre Out. $6 suggested donation, 714.902.5716 reservations.

In 16th-century Germany, a handsome and illegitimate tailor's apprentice reinvented himself as a charismatic preacher, proclaimed himself king of Munster, and required all the men in town to take multiple wives. Costa Mesa playwright John Byrd has written a provocative comedy about this blasphemous episode - The Bishop's 18 Wives - and it kicks off the OCPA Studios staged reading series for 2014 on March 1 @ 2:30pm at Santa Ana's Theatre Out. Katie Chidester (The Miss Julie Dream Project, Machinal, American Buffalo) directs.

The Play In this saucy sixteenth-century tale, a seductive cad becomes a bishop and marries himself to all the women in town. Political intrigue, a farm girl in a jewel-encrusted corset, a poisoned dagger, bloodthirsty revenge, eunuchs with swords, true love, and a Catholic nun in a chicken costume ... it's all here!

The Playwright John Byrd's playwriting credits include The Hermit Bird (Editor's Choice, Callboard; Lowell House Award, Harvard University), The Death of Ayn Rand (Virago Theatre) and Zombie Vixens From Hell (Virago Theatre). TV credits: Seriously Unusual Television Network (UPN). Film performance credits: Ambassador's Day (Best International Short, Toronto After Dark Film Festival; Best Science Fiction Film, Poppy Jasper Film Festival). Stage performance credits: The End (world premiere by George Furth, New Conservatory Theater), Romance in D (Standout Comedy Production, Silicon Valley Theater Awards), The Rainmaker (Subscriber's Choice Award, Hillbarn Theatre). John is a member of the Dramatists Guild, AEA and AFTRA/SAG.

The Orange County Playwrights Alliance (OCPA) began on April 1, 1995 with an informal meeting in an oncologist's office in Anaheim. Since then, OCPA has become the fundamental group for playwrights in O.C., presenting staged readings and productions of plays at intriguing local theatres. Its playwrights have been produced across the U.S., and have won national and regional playwriting awards.

As a gay and lesbian theatre, Theatre Out presents works by gay and lesbian playwrights, as well as pieces about the gay and lesbian community, and strives to explore both the classics that shaped our history and the new works that are continuing to form, examine and reshape our culture. Theatre Out is passionate about telling the stories of the GLBT community with romantic comedies, intriguing musicals, thrilling mysteries, serious dramas and everything in between. Theatre Out fosters a creative environment open to all artists in the theatre community, and it fosters local playwrights by supporting groups such as OCPA.