2007 Series:
"Community: the Collective Voice"
Four Plays, Four Weekends
September & November, 2007
Net proceeds from this year's series
will benefit
United Good Neighbors of Jefferson County.
This year's WordPlay
Series is sponsored by
First
Federal Savings & Loan.
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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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KCP's WordPlay Concludes with “The Road to
Mecca”
An Afrikaner
community reacts to a woman artist who “dared to be different”
Port Townsend, Wash.—“Community: The Collective
Voice” is the theme for Key City Players’ annual WordPlay Reading Series, now in
its third year and sponsored by First Federal Savings & Loan.
The final play in this four-play series is “The Road to
Mecca” by Athol Fugard, South Africa’s leading playwright. The staged reading is
directed by DJ Adams and is performed at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17, and at
2:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18, at Key City Playhouse.
 |
|
Key City Players presents
“The Road to Mecca” Nov. 17 & 18 as the final play in its WordPlay
Reading Series. Actors performing in the staged reading are Denise
Fleener as Miss Helen, Shelly Randall as Elsa, and Richard Weston as
Dominee Marius Byleveld. |
The play centers on Miss Helen, an elderly Afrikaner woman
who lives alone in a small, rural South African community. After her husband’s
death she came alive to her artistic tendencies and transformed her home into an
imaginative place she calls “my Mecca.”
A young friend of Miss Helen’s visits her from the city and
discovers that the local church, disturbed by her odd artworks and the way she
has distanced herself from the community, is arranging to place Miss Helen in a
nursing home. The play presents the challenges of the individual’s role in our
society as well as the artist’s ability to both inspire and disturb.
Local actors performing in the reading are Denise Fleener,
Shelly Randall and Richard Weston. The narrator is Ben Rezendes.
“The Road to Mecca” won the New York Drama Critics Circle
award for Best Foreign Play of the 1987-88 season. The New York Times
review stated that it was “the author’s most personal play to date, an essential
Rosetta stone for the entire canon.” The Christian Science Monitor noted
that the play “glows with a rare luminosity and intensity. Athol Fugard’s latest
play … is also his most eloquent and transforming.”
All WordPlay performances are pay-what-you-wish; no advance
tickets or reservations are necessary. Net proceeds support charitable programs
related to the theme. Last year, Key City Players donated $1,112.29 to OlyCAP in
support of senior nutrition programs, following readings focused on “The Culture
of Aging.” This year’s selected charity is United Good Neighbors of Jefferson
County.
AfterWords post-performance discussions follow all Sunday
readings and include the artistic staff and cast as well as professionals from a
variety of fields who address questions and ideas brought up by each play. The
special guest for “The Road to Mecca” is Pastor Wendell Ankeny of Trinity
Methodist Church in Port Townsend.
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. Those interested in contributing to the series in any way are
encouraged to contact WordPlay Program Administrator Nancy Muir at
360-385-9518.
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Key City Players’ WordPlay Reading Series Set for Fall 2007
“Community” Theme; Net Proceeds to Benefit UGN
Port Townsend, Wash.—“Community: The Collective Voice” has been selected as the theme for Key City Players’ annual WordPlay Reading Series, now in its third
year.
Coming this fall, WordPlay brings four plays by celebrated playwrights to life
in staged readings by local actors. Selected with the theme of “Community” in
mind are “The Children’s Hour,” “The Guys,” “Nickel and Dimed,” and “The Road to
Mecca.”
“The focus is the written word,” says WordPlay Program Administrator Nancy Muir.
“Audience members invariably express their surprise at how little they miss
props and costumes and instead are able to focus on the play itself, its words,
and the nuances of character.”
Each play will be read twice at the Key City Playhouse in Port Townsend over
four weekends in September and November, with additional readings scheduled
county-wide in community venues during the month of October.
All WordPlay performances are pay-what-you-wish, with net proceeds supporting
charitable programs related to the theme. This year’s selected charity is United
Good Neighbors of Jefferson County.
Last year, Key City Players donated $1,112.29 to OlyCAP in support of senior
nutrition programs, following readings focused on “The Culture of Aging.”
This year’s WordPlay Reading Series starts with “The Children’s Hour” by
Lillian Hellman, directed by Denise Fleener. Read on Sept. 1 & 2, this classic
play from the playwright of “The Little Foxes” and “Another Part of the Forest”
examines the effect that a child’s malicious lie has on a small community and
especially on the lives of two women who run a local girls’ school. An additional reading of "The Children's Hour"
takes place at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12, at the Cape George Clubhouse
(restricted to Cape George residents and their guests).
“The Guys” by Anne Nelson, directed by Don White, follows on Sept. 8 &
9. A study in the resilience and courage of the human spirit, “The Guys”
brings together a writer and a fire chief post-9/11, as they work to craft
eulogies celebrating the lives of fallen fire fighters. As the writer learns of
the community that exists among these brave individuals, she and the fire chief
begin to build a bond of hope for the future.
An additional reading of "The Guys" takes place at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5, at the
Port Ludlow Fire Hall.
“Nickel and Dimed” by Joan Holden, directed by Michelle Hensel, makes its
appearance on Nov. 10 & 11. Based on the bestselling book Nickel and
Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich, this play offers a
sometimes amusing, always enlightening look at a journalist who goes underground
to discover how Americans survive on minimum wage jobs. An additional reading of "Nickel and Dimed"
takes place at 7 p.m., Friday, Oct. 19, at the Quilcene Community Center.
“The Road to Mecca” by Athol Fugard, directed by DJ Adams, wraps up the
series on Nov. 17 & 18. One of Fugard’s finest plays, this is the tale of
an eccentric artist and the small rural community that has difficulty fitting
her and her work into their world view. “The Road to Mecca” is an engrossing
study of the age-old conflict between the creative individual and society. An additional reading of "The Road to Mecca"
takes place at 7 p.m., Friday, Oct. 26, at the First Presbyterian Church in Port
Townsend.
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.
Admission is by donation; no advance tickets or reservations are necessary.
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.
Those interested in contributing to the series in any way are encouraged to
contact WordPlay Program Administrator Nancy Muir at 360-385-9518.
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.
| For further information about our WordPlay Reading Series or to
find out about ways in which you can participate in or sponsor this
program, please contact our WordPlay Program Administrator,
Nancy Muir. |
