The WorldPlay Reading Series has concluded for 2008. Thank you all!
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2008
WordPlay Reading Series Explores Youth Culture
Net Proceeds to Benefit UGN’s Local Youth Programs
Four plays explore “Youth Culture: A Contemporary Snapshot” in Key City Public
Theatre’s annual WordPlay Reading Series, now in its fourth year.
Over the next four weekends, WordPlay brings four plays by celebrated
playwrights to life in staged readings by local actors. Selected with the theme
of “Youth Culture” in mind are “Sexsting,” “Schoolgirl Figure,” “The
Stones,” and “The Visible Horse” — the latter by Mara Lathrop, an
award-winning playwright living part-time in Port Townsend and part-time in
Italy.
Lathrop’s play “The Visible Horse” kicks off the series with
pay-what-you-wish performances at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17 at the Kala
Point Community Center and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday,
Oct. 18 & 19, at Key City Playhouse.
“The Visible Horse” will also be performed at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 7, at Port
Ludlow’s Bay Club.
To encourage accessibility to quality live theatre for and by the community,
WordPlay is generously sponsored by
First Federal and admission is by donation. Each
of the four plays will be read twice at Key City Playhouse, with additional
readings scheduled county-wide in community venues in Kala Point, Quilcene, Port
Ludlow and Cape George.
A portion of the WordPlay proceeds supports charitable programs related to the
theme. This year’s benefactors are the local youth programs supported by United
Good Neighbors (UGN) of Jefferson County, including Big Brothers Big Sisters,
the YMCA and the teen centers. Last year, Key City Public Theatre donated $1,200
to UGN’s general fund following readings focused on the theme of “Community: The
Collective Voice,” and is happy to be working again with UGN representative Liz
Coker to produce the 2008 series.
The WordPlay Reading Series starts this weekend with “The Visible Horse”
by Mara Lathrop, an intimate story shared between a mother and son. On the first
anniversary of his father's death in a car accident, Scott accidentally conjures
Dad back from the great beyond. Unfortunately, Dad arrives as a monster who sets
up shop under the bed! “The Visible Horse” is published by Smith & Kraus in the
collection Women Playwrights: Best Plays of 2001. See performance dates above.
“The Stones” by Tom Lycos and Stefo Nantsou follows on Oct. 25 & 26
at Key City Playhouse and Oct. 24
at Quilcene Community Center. The play is loosely based on a 1994 news
story from Melbourne of two boys who were arrested for manslaughter and brought
to trial after throwing stones from a freeway overpass; one stone went through a
car window and killed the driver. The playwrights were careful to research the
case before writing the play, which provokes serious thought about the juvenile
justice system, the roles of parents in supervision, and the inevitable pranks
of adolescents and their tenuous hold on maturity.
“Sexsting” by Doris Baizley (in collaboration with Susan Raffanti) makes
its appearance on Nov. 8 & 9 at Key City
Playhouse. “Sexsting" is a thought-provoking look at an alarming problem
in the age of Internet communications. Based on transcripts from an actual FBI
Internet "chat room" sting operation in California, Baizley’s play raises
questions about privacy and entrapment and takes a hard, uncomfortable look at
parental responsibility for children’s Internet access. This intense drama
contains graphic sexual dialogue and will not be performed outside the
playhouse.
“Schoolgirl Figure” by Wendy MacLeod wraps up the series on Nov. 15 &
16 at Key City Playhouse and Nov.
14 at Cape George Community Clubhouse. Welcome to a high school where
the in-crowd is the thin-crowd. Let the diet wars begin! Playwright MacLeod uses
dark humor to skewer our culture’s body image obsession. The play is irreverent
and hilarious as it gives us the skinny on anorexia and bulimia and the
impossible standards of physical beauty to which too many young girls aspire.
AfterWords post-performance discussions follow all Sunday readings and will
include professionals from a variety of fields who will address questions and
ideas brought up by each play.
Key City Playhouse is located at 419 Washington St., Port Townsend. Seating
begins a half hour before curtain times of 8 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Performances at community venues are Fridays at 7 p.m.
Admission is by donation at the door; no advance tickets or reservations are
necessary.
For more information, call the show info line at 360-385-7396.
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2007
Key City Players' 2007 WordPlay Reading Series
raised $1,220 for United Good Neighbors of Jefferson County, exceeding the goal
and surpassing last year's donation. Handing off the check to UGN representative
Liz Coker (second from right) are KCP's Board President Ian Keith and Artistic
Director Denise Winter. Net proceeds from the pay-what-you-wish performances in
September, October and November will go to support community programs, per the
theme of the series--"Community: the Collective Voice." A total of four plays
were brought to life by local actors in readings at Key City Playhouse and in
community venues throughout Jefferson County.
Photo by Shelly Randall
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2006
Terry Campbell, Sy Kahn and Sharon Salisbury read from
Visiting Mr. Green
by Jeff
Baron during the 2006 WordPlay reading series "The Culture of Aging."
Net
proceeds from the series in the amount of $1112.29 were donated
to
Olycap's senior nutrition program, Meals on Wheels.
WordPlay is a pay-what-you-wish program with a portion of the proceeds
supporting charitable programs related to its theme.
