Weekend Wonders Online New Play Festival Premieres This Weekend

For Weekend Wonders, four teams of four theatre artists (one playwright, one director, and two actors) have 48 hours to write, memorize, rehearse and perform a new 10-15 minute play.

"We wanted to provide some free entertainment to our audience, provide a fun challenge for our artists, respond to current events, and have a great time doing it," said Open Book Theatre Company's Artistic Director Krista Schafer Ewbank. "Everyone will work and perform from home. We're dedicated to keeping everyone safe. The plays are written with this in mind."

January's shows will include artists familiar to Open Book audiences as well as introduce new artists. John Arden McClure, Dinah Tutien, Daniel DeRey, and Craig Ester will be writing the plays. Kez Settle, D. B. Schroeder, Kryssy Becker, and Molly McMahon are directing. Actors include Forest Hudson, Linda Rabin Hammell, Connie Cowper, Nicole Marie Hunt, David Moan, MONICA SPENCER, Jan Cartwright, and Angela Dill. On Thursday, January 28th the artists will be randomly grouped into four teams. The playwrights will be given a theme and some other fun challenges, and then will start writing a script for their specific team. By Friday night the plays will have been written and the titles will be announced. Then on Saturday January 30th at 8pm all four shows will be streamed live via the theatre's Facebook Page.

Although the plays can be watched at a later time, there's an incentive to watch live, beyond the fun of being part of a premiere. "Anyone who comments during the live stream will be entered to win a ticket to our upcoming One to One Virtual play Love Space," explained Schafer Ewbank.

Southern Wayne County Regional Chamber (SWCRC) is sponsoring the January festival, and the playwrights will be given a theme that pays homage to the sponsor. But each playwright can interpret that theme however they want.

Will Weekend Wonders always be online? "This would be a lot of fun to do in person, as well," said Schafer Ewbank, "and might very well develop into an in person event when it's safe to do so. For now, we've committed to 4 months of online play festivals."

February's plays will be performed live on Saturday, February 27th. They're being sponsored by Karen Wilson-Smithbauer. The artists will be announced on Monday February 22nd and the theme and teams will be announced on Thursday, February 25th.

More information about Weekend Wonders, as well as Open Book's other offerings, can be found on their website, openbooktc.com. Or follow Open Book's Facebook page for all the announcements!