Playful People Productions presents The One-Act Play That Goes Wrong

Playful People Productions presents The One-Act Play That Goes Wrong by the award-winning team of Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields. Three casts - two teen casts and one adult cast - will perform July 29-31, 2022 at San Jose's Historic Hoover Theatre. Tickets ($20) will be available starting July 15 at www.PlayfulPeople.org. For more information, call (408) 878-5362.

In this uproarious comedy, The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society is presenting the opening night of 1920s-style mystery, "The Murder at Haversham Manor." The Society has high hopes for the production after years of small budgets, unreliable performers, and badly cast shows. But as the show's title might suggest, this small cast of eight characters will struggle to perform while props go missing, actors forget lines, set doors won't open, and the cast starts to crack under the pressure.

The One-Act Play That Goes Wrong was such a success at its introduction that Lewis, Sayer, and Shields expanded it into a full-length play, The Play That Goes Wrong, which opened in London in 2012 and continues to run there today. It won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 2015, and the Broadway production in 2017 won a Tony Award as well as the Broadway.com Audience Choice Award for Best Play, and the Theater Fans Choice Award for Best Play. The same creative team went on to write the smash play Peter Pan Goes Wrong, and the critically acclaimed television series The Goes Wrong Show.

The One-Act Play That Goes Wrong runs approximately 75 minutes and is directed by Playful People Artistic Director Katie D'Arcey.

Playful People Productions was first founded in 2010 as a positive, inclusive, family-focused theatre company, and has operated as a 501(c)3 nonprofit since 2017. While initially providing classes, camps, and shows for kids, the company has grown to offer similar classes for adults, and stages multi-generational performances where family members can perform together. Most recently the organization has returned to its customary spaces at the Historic Hoover Theatre in San Jose, but is continuing some of its pandemic-responsive online programming (POP, Playful Online People) as well as On Demand video classes.

Playful People Productions aims to create an inclusive environment where all feel welcome, and where creative impulses are encouraged by experienced Bay Area artists. The organization follows Positive Discipline guidelines as well as proven child education techniques; continually works to ensure the safety of all participants, volunteers, and staff; and regularly gives families the opportunity to share the exhilarating experience of performing together. During the nonprofit's tenure, they have enjoyed frequent instances of children performing on stage with siblings, parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents - and have also welcomed adults who wish to perform but find local theater auditions and rehearsals do not fit their needs.

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