Community Theater Play Readings on January 27 at BIG ARTS

Jan. 9, 2013 - PRLog -- BIG ARTS launched a program for community theater and play readings. All readings will feature local talent volunteering onstage and backstage.

BIG ARTS Community Players is seeking volunteers for a variety of tasks. Audition and other cast information available on BIG ARTS website.

Play Readings for 7 p.m. Sunday, January 27, at Herb Strauss Theater:

The Gray & the Blue written by Wally Kain, directed by Doug McElhney (Drama – One Act; set at end of Civil War)

Cynthia written by Norma Hagan, directed by Norma Hagan (Drama/Murder – One Act)

When Do We Shoot Them? written by Robert Hilliard, directed by Edina Lessack (Drama – One Act; during WWII)

Mega-Man to the (Emotional) Rescue written by Don Goodrum, directed by Shirley Jewell (Comedy – One Act)

Doug McElhney is a resident of Fort Myers Beach, where he works at the Chamber of Commerce. He gained a lot of experience in his child and teenage years. McElhney also did some television work (before he got braces) in commercials and guest-starred three times on the Nashville Network sitcom, I-40 Paradise. He appeared in the Carmen Garmin with the Community Players in April 2012.

Norma R. Hagan has been a full time Islander since 1988, is a professional freelance writer for the travel industry, as well as a writing instructor at BIG ARTS.  She has published articles in the Times of the Islands, American Express Mariner Magazine, Travel & Leisure and many other national magazines. She writes both fiction and  non-fiction, and has a script in-progress. Her book, How to Get Away with Murder, can be found on island bookstore shelves. Hagan has written speeches for Democrats and Republicans and is a member of The National Press Club of Washington, D. C. She wrote the drama Cynthia, and is directing the reading for Community Players. Norma is from Bucks County, Pennsylvania and while there was President of the Bucks County Writers Guild, and belonged to two Community Theater groups.  Her acting credits include: Middle of the Night, Guys and Dolls, Barefoot in the Park, and more recently, Shirley Jewell's Sanibel on Parade.  

Edina Lessack is a Graduate of Temple University College of Music, where she studied voice. She has performed in Two By Two and Berlin to Broadway with the Drama Keys Playhouse, and 76 Trombones and Girl Crazy with the Whitemarsh Players. Edina has directed Lovers & Other Strangers and Lion in Winter with the Skippack Players. She shares a Grammy Award for Glorious Sound of Christmas, sung with the Temple choirs and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Before moving to Sanibel, Shirley Jewell owned and operated her own small special event business in Connecticut. Her experience with special events brought her to volunteer in fundraising efforts at BIG ARTS, J. Howard Wood Theatre and the Sanibel Community House. She held volunteer positions from volunteer-coordinator at the theater to sitting on the Board of Directors at both BIG ARTS and the Community House. Jewell did a stint as Development Director as the Wood Theatre, where she was responsible for procuring a Kennedy Center Grant to develop a full production for the play Asher Command by Marilyn Felt, first presented at the theater as part of the Congress Play Reading Series. Her theater experience expanded to writing two plays with her partner in crime, Gloria Baker. Their murder-mysteries Sanibel on Parade and The Shell Game were presented on the stage at the Sanibel Community House. Jewell is the current chair of the Community Players committee; she will direct Mega-Man to the (Emotional) Rescue.

BIG ARTS Herb Strauss Theater is located at 2200 Periwinkle Way, Sanibel. Tickets to play readings are adult $12, student $5. Play readings will also be held Sunday, February 17

at BIG ARTS Schein Performance Hall, and Sunday, April 21at Herb Strauss Theater.

Want to read more? Please visit http://www.BIGARTS.org for more event information, including ticket prices and links to performers’ websites. To purchase tickets, go online, stop by BIG ARTS, 900 Dunlop Road, Sanibel, or call Marks Box Office at (239) 395-0900.