Community Theater Play Readings April 21 at BIG ARTS Sanibel

SANIBEL ISLAND, Fla. - April 9, 2013 - PRLog -- BIG ARTS launched a program for community theater and staged play readings. All readings will feature the Community Players and other local talent, volunteering onstage and backstage. BIG ARTS Community Players will be presenting three staged play readings 7 p.m. Sunday, April 21: Paul Newman Hops the Amtrak Auto-Train, Waiting for Wilma and Oz in the Clozet. These readings will take place at the Herb Strauss Theater, 2200 Periwinkle Way, Sanibel.

        Sanibel playwright Marcia Rudin wrote Paul Newman Hops the Amtrak Auto-Train, the play is directed by Shirley Jewell, the cast is Fay Carney, Bill Rahe, Michael Samet, and Laurie Pickens. In this short play a middle-aged housewife from New Jersey gets an intriguing proposition from a handsome stranger aboard the auto-train from Virginia to Florida. Rudin also penned Waiting for Wilma, and it is directed by Jewell. The cast is Judith Koloski, Michael Raab and Peter Sterns.The story unfolds as Floridians evacuate their homes during Hurricane Wilma. Two different couples get booked into the same hotel room, so who gets to stay and who must leave? Or does this present an opportunity of convenience? Rudin is a resident for screenwriting at MacDowell Colony of the Arts, her plays have received eight productions in Manhattan, California, and Michigan and several of her works had staged readings in California and Florida. She has published three non-fiction books. Her articles have appeared in such publications as The New York Times and New York Daily News.
         The third reading on April 21 will be Oz in the Clozet, a one-act play by Len Cuthbert http://www.lencuthbert.com/profile/profile.htm. His scripts have been produced in festivals in Canada, U.S. and the UK. In the past three years, Cuthbert directed three of his plays at the London Fringe Festival. In January 2012, he was awarded a grant by the Ontario Arts Council to develop his play, Delilah, to a full length work, which will be produced this April. The “recipe” for Oz in the Clozet: place one enigmatic girl and one vulnerable guy in one medium-sized locked custodial closet, add one dominant fiancé, shake knob three times. This play is a combination of comedic calamity and breath of farce that begins when a guy and girl find themselves stuck in the custodial closet of a movie theater.

Tickets are now on sale at BIG ARTS and at the Herb Strauss Theater, adults: $12, children age 17 and under: $5.

The Community Players are also seeking volunteers, if you are interested in being part of the production team, please contact BIG ARTS at (239) 395-0900.  Jewell says, “These evenings have been gaining in popularity and our audiences enjoy being part of a process that helps playwrights develop their creative offerings.” A staged play reading allows the audience to watch a play in development and allows the playwright to see how the characters present themselves on stage, how the blocking or movement suggested in the script works on stage, and how the audience responds to the play. Jewell adds, “Come out and support your local community theater troupe, support new works by playwrights that are developing works for live-theater, and support your friends and neighbors who volunteer their time and talent here on the island. Our audiences are important to us and provide the support for having community theater here on Sanibel.”

BIG ARTS Community Players May are also working on a full-stage production of Old Money by Thomas C. Riti. Performances are 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday May 16 to June 1 at BIG ARTS Herb Strauss Theater. This comedy involves sweet elderly sisters—an unlikely pair of counterfeiters—who use the manufactured money to support their favorite local charities. The local mob is out to put an end to this unexpected counterfeiting competition, which serves side-splitting situations as their granddaughter/grandniece, local law enforcement, a priest, a mob boss, his not-so-bright goombas, and a girl scout keep the comedy rolling right up to the unexpected final curtain. Tickets are now available at BIG ARTS Box Offices.

Want to read more? Please visit http://www.bigarts.org/theatre.php 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.