Mad Horse Theatre Company to Stage BY LOCAL, 4/21-24

Mad Horse Theatre Company is excited to announce the first offerings of its popular BY LOCAL new play reading series of 2016! The series has consistently brought exciting, original scripts by Maine playwrights to theater audiences in the Greater Portland area. Both plays in this latest BY LOCAL focus on the trials, tribulations, and wonders of romantic relationships.

Mad Horse's April BY LOCAL series will take place on the weekend of April 21 to 24, at the Mad Horse Theater in the historical Hutchins School, 24 Mosher St. in South Portland.

THE BALLAD OF DAPHNIS AND CHLOE by Carmen-maria Mandley, will be read on April 21st and 23rd.

EM AND WEB by Megan E. Tripaldi, will be read on April 22nd and 24th.

Performance times are 7:30PM, Thursday through Saturday, and 2:00PM on Sunday. Each staged reading is followed by a talk back session with the playwright.

Admission is Pay What You Can (suggested donation $10.00). Tickets are available at the door, cash or check only. For more information, visit our website,www.madhorse.com, check out our Facebook page, or call 747-4148 for more information.

THE BALLAD OF DAPHNIS AND CHLOE, directed by Mad Horse Company member Reba Short, is very loosely based on the Greek myth Daphnis and Chloe. In this retelling, the young Daphnis and Chloe -- both spending every day with each other tending sheep and talking of plain things-- become plagued with some unknown illness that causes stirrings, fevers, and bulges. They believe they will perish from the apparent illness and seek counsel from the wise and the not-so-wise. They discover a story with each other that is comic, dangerous, poetic, and thickly sensual.

Carmen-maria Mandley is a teacher, actor, director, and playwright. She currently serves as the Education Director and Literary Manager of Portland Stage, a guest teacher for Acorn Productions, Colby College, and the University of Southern Maine, Artistic Director of Bare Portland, and a long-time company member with Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts. She is the Founding Artistic Director of the Nickel Shakespeare Girls and Bare Theatre (Both based in Raleigh, NC) and a produced playwright and published poet.

EM AND WEB, directed by Mad Horse Company member Stacey Koloski, takes a look at two people who, in spite of loving each other, have quite a bit of baggage and face obstacles in their romantic relationship. The play demonstrates how real relationships not only take work, but can also prove amazing in the simplest of moments.

Megan E. Tripaldi is an actress, playwright, and educator in the greater Portland area. She graduated from the University of Southern Maine with a BA in Theatre in 2012 and has been working in education programs since with Portland Stage Company, Stages Performing Academy, and the Children's Museum and Theatre of Maine. She has had her plays produced in Maine, Massachusetts, West Virginia, and Washington State. She has most recently been seen in several productions by Naked Shakespeare, Pie Man Theatre Company, Bare Portland Theatre, and Portland Stage Company.

Many plays originated at BY LOCAL have gone on to full productions at Mad Horse and other theatre companies-- including this season's phenomenally successful comedy DIGBY'S HOME, by Mad Horse Company member Brent Askari. Monica Wood's PAPERMAKER, produced at Portland Stage Company, and Callie Kimball's ALLIGATOR ROAD, produced by Mad Horse last season, were both first presented at BY LOCAL.