The Playwrights Forum and Round House Theatre have joined forces to present the Plays Under Construction Festival, a three-week festival offering a behind-the-scenes look at the development of three new plays by three local playwrights. The festival runs March 13 – April 1, 2006 at Round House Theatre Silver Spring and the Round House Theatre Education Center. A number of the festival events are free and open to the public.
The Plays Under Construction Festival is designed to give local playwrights a taste of the full production experience, pairing them with professional directors, designers, and actors who will provide valuable feedback. The festival culminates in a staged reading of each play in its entirety, with a thirty-minute segment of each play memorized by actors.
The play selection committee of The Playwrights Forum, consisting of actor/director Jane Beard, dramaturg/author/critic Lloyd Rose, and actor/director/playwright Nick Olcott, selected three plays written by members of The Playwrights Forum that they found most worthy of and most likely to benefit from the development process: Braids by Clarence Coo; What a Lovely Way to Burn by Diane Ney; and The Judicial Murder of Mrs. Surratt by Rich Amada.
Each of the three selected plays will receive a two-week rehearsal period prior to a public staged reading. The public is also invited to attend several events during the rehearsal process, including the first reading, the designer presentation, and a director/playwright discussion. It’s a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the process of taking a play from page to stage. In the first reading, the director, actors, and designers sit at a table and read the script aloud. This is the design team’s first exposure to the play. Several days following the first reading, the director will meet with the designers to discuss their design concepts for the play. Several of Washington’s leading designers, including Jos. B. Musumeci, Rosemary Pardee, Colin K. Bills, Jason Arnold, Mark Anduss, Martha Mountain, and Kate Turner Walker, have signed on to lend their expertise to the festival. During the director/playwright discussion, the public is invited to eavesdrop on what is usually a private conversation and learn how a director’s hands-on work with a script can lead to rewrites and revisions.
ABOUT THE PLAYS AND PLAYWRIGHTS:
Braids by Clarence Coo will be directed by Peg Denithorne, who directed Talley’s Folly and String Fever at Theater J. In Braids, the global journey of a single strand of hair teaches four women – a girl from a village in India, a Korean immigrant beauty supply store owner, a Hasidic woman from Jerusalem, and a legal secretary in Washington, DC – about the true price of beauty. The play was the 2005 winner of the Larry Neal Award from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Mr. Coo’s work has been seen at The Kennedy Center, the Mark Taper Forum, Theatre Mu, and East West Players. His play Proof Through the Night was produced Off-Broadway as part of the Young Playwrights Festival.
What a Lovely Way to Burn by Diane Ney will be directed by Steven Carpenter, who directed The Underpants and Incorruptible for Washington Stage Guild. The play seeks to unravel the ghostly mystery of a seemingly innocent woman and the alter ego that follows her. Ms. Ney’s plays have been produced on numerous stages across the nation, and seven of her radio plays have been produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). She is the recipient of The Joseph Kesselring Award from The National Arts Club and a Larry Neal Award from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. She was also nominated for The Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play at the 11th Annual Helen Hayes Awards for her play Great Hunger. Four of her plays have been published, and she was a participant in the Playwright’s Roundtable at the Sundance Institute.
The Judicial Murder of Mrs. Surratt by Rich Amada will be directed by Ford’s Theatre Associate Producer Mark Ramont, who recently directed Midwives at Round House Theatre. The selection of Mr. Ramont as director for this play seems most fitting since Mary Surratt allegedly conspired in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre, which led to her becoming the first woman in American history to be executed by the federal government. The play seeks to find the truth about Mrs. Surratt. Mr. Amada is an award-winning author of more than twenty plays. This season, he has had plays being produced in New York, NY; Washington, DC; and Ft. Myers, FL. He was the recipient of the 1996 Playwriting Fellowship from the Arizona Commission on the Arts.
EVENT SCHEDULE:
All events are free and open to the public.
BRAIDS / By Clarence Coo / Directed by Peg Denithorne
First Reading: Monday, March 13 at 7:30 p.m. at Round House Theatre Silver Spring
Design Presentation: Friday, March 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the Round House Theatre Education Center
Director/Playwright Discussion: Saturday, March 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the Round House Theatre Education Center
Final Reading: Saturday, March 25 at 7:30 p.m. at Round House Theatre Silver Spring
WHAT A LOVELY WAY TO BURN / By Diane Ney / Directed by Steven Carpenter
First Reading: Sunday, March 19 at 7:30 p.m. at Round House Theatre Silver Spring
Design Presentation: Thursday, March 23 at 7:30 p.m. at the Round House Theatre Education Center
Director/Playwright Discussion: Sunday, March 26 at 7:30 p.m. at the Round House Theatre Education Center
Final Reading: Friday, March 31 at 7:30 p.m. at Round House Theatre Silver Spring
THE JUDICIAL MURDER OF MRS. SURRATT / By Rich Amada / Directed by Mark Ramont
First Reading: Monday, March 20 at 7:30 p.m. at Round House Theatre Silver Spring
Design Presentation: Friday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m. at the Round House Theatre Education Center
Director/Playwright Discussion: Sunday, March 26 at 7:30 p.m. at the Round House Theatre Education Center
Final Reading: Saturday, April 1 at 7:30 p.m. at Round House Theatre Silver Spring
VENUE INFORMATION / METRO / PARKING:
Round House Theatre Silver Spring is located at 8641 Colesville Road in Silver Spring, MD, adjacent to the AFI/Silver Theatre and two blocks from the Silver Spring station on Metro’s Red Line.
Round House Theatre Education Center is located at 925 Wayne Avenue in Silver Spring, MD, on the ground level of the Wayne Avenue Parking Garage and two blocks from the Silver Spring station on Metro’s Red Line.
Parking: Garage parking is available in the Montgomery County Parking Garages at the corner of Fenton Street and Wayne Avenue and the corner of Ellsworth Drive and Fenton Street. Metered parking is also available at the parking garage located at Colesville Road and Spring Street