The Sauk Announces LIVING ROOM MONOLOGUES Project

Although the theatre is closed, productions are on hold and rehearsals have halted, The Sauk, Hillsdale County's community theatre, is keeping theatre alive with a new project.

LIVING ROOM MONOLOGUES will bring three world premiere monologues to Facebook every week for the next five weeks. The project is designed to "keep us together while we're apart."
"The Sauk has always been dedicated to the creation of new theatrical works," said Sauk Executive Director Trinity Bird. "Theatre has always been a reflection of society. What better time to create art than now?"

Bird came up with the idea and suggested it to a playwright friend.
"Within a couple hours I had a script and full board support of the project," Bird added. "Every person I asked said yes and within an hour I had 14 writers lined up."
The playwrights represent local, state and national writers. All but two of the writers have had work produced at The Sauk in prior seasons or are on the schedule for this upcoming year.

Each week, three playwrights will be given a topic. They will have approximately 48 hours to write a monologue. Then, an actor will be chosen to learn the monologue and perform the piece. New monologue performances will be uploaded to The Sauk's Facebook page (www.facebook.com/thesauk) each Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. starting this Friday and ending on April 26.

"This is our way of keeping theatre alive during this unique, unprecedented time," Bird said. "If people can't come to the theatre, we will bring the theatre to them."
The Sauk presents new works each season. Every summer, the "Plays-in-Development" program matches playwrights with actors and directors to develop new plays. The Sauk also presents world premiere short plays each year in its "Sauk Shorts" production. Earlier this year, The Sauk was one of six community theatres in the country to be a producing theatre for the American Association of Community Theatre NewPlayFest.

The Sauk's 2020 season is sponsored by Expressions Photography and Design. The 2020 media sponsor is WCSR Radio Hillsdale. For more information on The Sauk, visit www.thesauk.org.

The performance dates and playwrights schedule consists of:
Friday, March 27 at 8 p.m. - Matthew Weaver (Spokane, WA)
Saturday, March 28 at 8 p.m. - MJ Dulmage (Hillsdale, MI)
Sunday, March 29 at 3 p.m. - Aaron Nichols (South Bend, IN)
Friday, April 3 at 8 p.m. - Mark Cornell (Chapel Hill, NC)
Saturday, April 4 at 8 p.m. - Jacquelyn Loy (Burlington, NC)
Sunday, April 5 at 3 p.m. - Scott Mullen (Los Angeles, CA)
Friday, April 10 at 8 p.m. - Lindsay McNair Patton (Fletcher, NC)
Saturday, April 11 at 8 p.m. - Tiffany Thatcher (Homer, MI)
Sunday, April 12 at 3 p.m. - Ruben Carbajal (Racine, WI)
Friday, April 17 at 8 p.m. - Jen Letherer (Hudson, MI)
Saturday, April 18 at 8 p.m. - Penny Neer (Hillsdale, MI)
Sunday, April 19 at 3 p.m. - G.M. (Bud) Thompson (Grand Rapids, MI)
Friday, April 24 at 8 p.m. - Sarah Gray (Jonesville, MI)
Saturday, April 25 at 8 p.m. - Bud Vear (Hillsdale, MI)
Sunday, April 26 at 3 p.m. - Matthew Weaver (Spokane, WA)