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Anne Dichele, Dan Bellante, Delray Beach Playhouse, Doris Oberstein, Ed Kessler, Judy Marilyn Goldstein, Laura Ratto, Marianne Regan, New Plays, Pamela Meek, Patricia Wakely Wolf, Phyllis Spear, Playhouse Playwrights' Project, Playwright Festival, short plays, Todd Caster
New plays by nine local playwrights will be showcased over a two-day period
Saturday, October 23rd & Sunday, October 24th
“We’re making magic here!”
Marianne Regan, Director Playhouse Playwrights’ Project
For Immediate Release
Contact: Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244
October 8, 2021
DELRAY BEACH, FL: The 2021 edition of what has become a popular vehicle for South Florida playwrights to showcase their work, the Playhouse Playwrights’ Project, (“P3”) will take place on October 23rd and 24th at the Delray Beach Playhouse. This year’s event will feature nine brand new one-act plays.
In 2019, director Marianne Regan and art historian Dan Bellante approached the Delray Beach Playhouse with the idea of starting a local playwright’s festival.
“We called it the Playhouse Playwright’s Project and we had over 30 submissions that first year,” Regan explains. “We chose eight brand new, locally written plays to perform on the Playhouse’s Cabaret stage.”
The event was a huge success. The plays were warmly received and thoroughly enjoyed by sell-out audiences.
“Dan and I realized we had hit a nerve in the community and while 2020 put us in COVID-limbo, we are thrilled with the interest and excitement generated by this year’s submissions,” Regan continues. “So, this is officially our Second Annual Playhouse Playwright’s Project Festival of New Plays, written and performed by a community of talented playwrights and actors.”
The call for scripts went out in March, with a May 31st deadline. Criteria are well specified: Submissions must be 20 minute one-act plays and should not have had any previous productions. They must contain at least two, and not more than seven characters, and are judged on concept, dramatic action, and characterization.
The committee chose the plays in June (once again there were over 30 submissions) and everyone is encouraged to audition – actors with and without experience. “These are just readings,” Regan says, “there is no blocking, no sets, minimal props, and best of all, no memorizing!
“We hold a “mixer” with the playwrights and the actors to meet one another and then we start rehearsals,” she continues. We usually have 2 two-hour rehearsals before our final dress-tech rehearsal and then we’re ready to perform. Playwrights are invited to attend all the rehearsals because it is so valuable to them to hear their creation come to life. And it also gives them the opportunity to polish their writing because of the collaboration with the actors.”
Nine plays were chosen for this year’s Festival. Five plays will be produced on Saturday evening, and four will be produced on Sunday afternoon. (The list of plays and playwrights is below.)
The Playhouse Playwrights’ Project will take place on Saturday, October 23rd at 8 pm and on Sunday, October 24th at 2 pm at the Delray Beach Playhouse Tickets for each of the performances are $12 and can be purchased online at https://delraybeachplayhouse.com. A $20 Festival Pass covering both days is also available.
Masks must be worn in order to attend.
The Delray Beach Playhouse is located at 950 NW 9th Street, in Delray Beach (33444).
For more information about the Playhouse Playwrights’ Project, please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244.
Playhouse Playwrights’ Project
Saturday, October 23 at 8 pm
Sunday, October 24 at 2 pm
Tickets: $12/$20 for a Festival Pass
For tickets: https://tix5.centerstageticketing.com/sites/delraybeach6/event-details.php?e=944
Call 844-272-1281
Delray Beach Playhouse
950 NW 9th Street
Delray Beach, FL 33444
Playhouse Playwrights’ Project list of Plays and Playwrights:
TODD CASTER: INTO WISHIN’
Todd Caster is a local playwright and has an extensive catalog of short plays. His regional full-length productions include Broken Angels, Riddle Of Three, Surfing The Rubicon, Little Piggies, Stranded On The Isle Of Few, and Approaching The Speed Of Life. Todd was a finalist in the Delray Beach Playhouse’s 2019 Playwrights Festival of New Plays with The Burden Of Truth.
ANNE DICHELE: MEETMARKET.COM
Anne Dichele has been involved in many aspects of the theater including acting, play writing and production. Her short plays have been part of play readings produced by the South Florida Theatre League Summer Short Play Festival, Boca Raton Theatre Guild, and the Looking Glass Theatre in Manhattan. Her full length play Piano Man won an Honorable Mention in the California Stage Three Festival of New Plays and was a Semi-Finalist in the McClaren Play Writing Contest. She is a past president of the Boca Raton Theatre Guild, where her production credits included A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Jerry’s Girls, She Loves Me, Lend Me a Tenor, Goodbye Charlie, and Squabbles. She is thrilled to have her plays included in the 2019 Festival (Debbie Squared) and now in the 2021 Playhouses Playwrights’ Festival.
JUDY MARILYN GOLDSTEIN: STRANGERS AT THE BAR
Judy Marilyn Goldstein is a published poet and playwright. She began writing plays in the summer of 2018 and many of her plays have since been produced on stage and Zoom. She also enjoys acting and writing short fictional stories. Judy appreciates the opportunities that the Delray Beach Playhouse Playwrights Project has provided to local playwrights.
ED KESSLER: DINNER PLANS
Ed is a frustrated comic who performed for 3 years at New York City’s “Catch a Rising Star” and “The Improv.” He moved to Florida with his wife Melody in 2009. They reside at Villaggio, a 55 and over community, in Lake Worth. Ed is the President of the Villaggio Softball Team. This is the only way they will let him play. He is also a member of the Villaggio Players. It’s a theater group that performs two shows a year for the community. He has written short plays for the group and has acted in many shows. Ed is thrilled that Delray Beach Playhouse selected his play to be read at the theater.
PAMELA MEEK: FAMILY SECRETS, FAMILY REMAINS
Pamela Meek is a retired psychologist who wrote and performed her one-woman show in 2015 titled “How to Be a Good Mom…When You’ve Got a Schizophrenic Mother for a Role Model” in NYC, DC and Maryland. She’s been writing plays ever since. Her 10-minute play Undecided about a teenager born with both sexes has been produced by TAP Productions at Standing Ovations Performing Arts in Lake Worth Beach and Love Fest 2021 in South Florida. She is currently working on a play about the forgotten existence and benefits of matriarchies.
DORIS OBERSTEIN: WOW! IT WORKED
Doris is the author of two novels, RIPTIDE and THE SHOE TREE. She taught elementary education for twenty-six years while earning two Masters of Education Degrees, and trained student teachers for four universities in Connecticut. She was listed in the 1975 edition of “Outstanding Elementary Teachers Of America”. As a retiree, she became an Adjunct Professor in the University of Nevada Las Vegas College of Education training student teachers and facilitated “Literature: The Short Story” in the University of Nevada College of Continuing Education. Recently, she gave lectures, “Amusing Tales In Greek Mythology” in many local venues. She is honored to have her play read at the Delray Beach Playhouse.
LAURA RATTO: BEASTS IN BALL GOWNS
Laura Ratto is a writer and playwright. Her debut play, All In The Family Tree, was produced last year at Theatre Nova, in Ann Arbor, MI. Laura participated as a reader/actor in the 2019 Delray Beach Playhouse Playwrights’ Festival, a wonderful experience which inspired her to submit a play for this year’s project. She is beyond thrilled that BEASTS IN BALL GOWNS was selected and grateful to Marianne Regan and the talented actors who are bringing her “fabulous ladies” to life.
PHYLLIS SPEAR: MY MOTHER’S SABBATH CANDLES
Phyllis is delighted to have been chosen for the Playhouse Playwrights’ Festival of New Plays. A long time Florida resident, she spent the bulk of her working life as a mother, business executive, and doing acting in the evening. When she retired ten years ago she decided to “live her dream” and has been an actress and director since then. She always had an interest in playwriting, and with the onset of the pandemic picked up a script she had started working on several years before. This play is her first playwriting effort and is dedicated to her Jewish mother.
PATRICIA WAKELY WOLF: MEMORIES IN STORAGE
Patricia Wakely Wolf began at an early age writing poetry, short stories and had her own column in her high school newspaper. She won the Writer’s Digest award for her first full-length play, Closed Casket. Recently, her full-length play, Stung & Wounded, was selected for The South Florida Theatre League’s Summer Theatre Fest 2015 and a staged reading was performed at Main Street Playhouse in Miami Lakes. Patricia’s 10-minute plays have been produced at The South Florida Theatre League’s Summer Reading Series, Group Repertory Theatre in North Hollywood, CA, Playwrights’ Slam at The Kennedy Center and Pinky Swear Productions, Washington, DC. Her short play about Mary Cassatt was published by 365 Women A Year – A Playwriting Project. Her One-Minute-Plays have been produced at Anarchist Jurisdiction, Collaboration between the Dramatists Guild and #1MPF, South Florida One-Minute Play Festival in Miami, Manhattan Theatre Club in New York City and at Theatre J in Washington, DC. Patricia participated in several spoken word evenings that included her original work at Spark Off Rose in Los Angeles. Patricia is an actor/model in South and Central Florida and has also worked in commercials, theatre and independent film in Los Angeles and New York. Member: The Dramatists Guild, Stage 32, and The Writer’s Group/LA. Board Member: Shakespeare Troupe, Inc.
Carol Kassie 