Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Premieres Coming

Three one act plays by Steve Taylor-- "Lost Lenore," "The Cask of Amontillado," and "Hop-Frog"---will be presented Friday, January 16th, and Saturday, January 17th, as a dessert theatre fundraiser for Frankfort's LIFE House, an animal rescue organization.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Next New Plays Reading

The next meeting of 517 Playwrights will be held on Sunday January 25, 2009 from 2:00 to 5:00 pm at the Beaumont branch of the Lexington Public Library. Bring a play you've written and join the fun!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Time Off

School's out so I'm taking time off. Call me at 859 940-9510 if you need to reach me. Happy Holidays!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Pictures of Tim

I've requested pictures of scenes from Tim. As soon I receive them I'll get those pictures posted. In the meantime go see a play that likely will become a seasonal staple of many community theatres: Tim: A Christmas Story.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Tim Tastic: A Review

Tim: A Christmas Story by area playwright D.B. Williams had its WORLD Premier tonight on the stage of Georgetown College's John L Hill Memorial Chapel. The play, a modern retelling of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol that is set in Cleveland, Ohio with 'ghosts' that include an Hispanic waitress, an Indian who is not Hindi but Southern Baptist, and a former girlfriend of this version's 'Scrooge' (Eddie Greel) was ably performed by members of the Georgetown Community Theatre and well staged and directed by Gil Thurman.

Brett W. Ervin as Eddie Greel was believeable as the work and money obsessed uncle who changes, in part due to the influence of his idealistic young nephew, Tim (Conner Caldwell). Though only in the fourth grade Caldwell holds his own in his first, but surely not last principle role. Also, doing well in bringing their characters to life were Kim Burgess (Angelita) and Jim Miller (Mr. Calbert).

Gil Thurman has staged Tim: A Christmas Story in a way that effectively helps tell the story. The set and lighting were elegantly simple; likewise the blocking was generally open with clear lines that facilitated being able to see and hear the actors.

The only problem with the play had nothing to do with the dialogue or the acting it was the frequent scene/costume changes that seemed to always appear as soon members of the audience started to laugh at some of Williams' crackling dialogue or an actor's funny bit. Runnning time was right at 90 minutes, with shorter blackouts it might well have come in at less than 80 minutes and that would have greatly helped a show that was run without an intermission.

There is still time to get out and see the last two performances of the world premiere of Tim. Georgetown Community Theatre will present Tim: A Christmas Story Saturday December13th at 8:00 pm and Sunday the 14th at 3:00 pm. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Go see Tim!

Get a ticket to see Tim: A Christmas Story which has it's world premier this weekend in Georgetown, KY.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

See a World Premiere, here in Kentucky

The world premier of playwright D.B. William's Tim: A Christmas Story will be staged by the Georgetown Community Players, Georgetown, KY December 12, 13, and 14, 2008.

Curtain times are 8:00 pm on Friday and Saturday, and 3:00 pm for the performance on Sunday December 14th. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children 12 and under.

Directed by Gil Thurman, Tim: A Christmas Story is a 90 minute retelling of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

Premier performances will be held at the John Hill Memorial Chapel on the Georgetown College campus. The Chapel is easy to find on the main road that runs through the campus, Jackson Street.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Heartland Plays, Inc.

I have requested that a representative of Heartland Plays come speak to us in March or April 2009 to discuss how to format a play for submission. If you have a particular time or date you'd like this person to visit with us, please let me know. Thanks.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Pictures from our first play reading


Greta Fields (left rear) author of Wild Card
Steve Taylor (near right) author of The Summer it Rained Every Day


Bruce Williams, author of Tim: A Christmas Story









Plays Read

The plays read at the recent play reading included:

Excerpts from Tim: A Christmas Story by D.B. Williams and Wild Card by Greta Fields. Both of these plays are full-length works so only one or a few selected scenes were read.

Plays read in their entireties were: The Summer It Rained Every Day by Steve Taylor, a ten minute play and two more ten minnute plays, both by Bill McCann, Jr. The Devil's Christmas Party and There Was No Wrigley Field: A Tragedy for Two, A Comedy for the Rest of Us.

If you have an interest in learning more about any of the plays listed above please leave a comment and the playwright can get back to you.

Coming Soon!

Pictures from the recent play reading will be posted in the next few days. Check back so you can put playwright names and faces together!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Last Sunday in January?

So far the last Sunday in January 2009 is the leading candidate to be the next time 517 Playwrights will meet to conduct a reading of new plays. Any other suggestions? Leave a comment and let us know when you'd like to have another new plays reading. Thanks.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

WORLD PREMIER!

The world premier of playwright D.B. William's Tim: A Christmas Story will be staged by the Georgetown Community Players, Georgetown, KY December 12, 13, and 14, 2008. Curtain times are 8:00 pm on Friday and Saturday, and 3:00 pm for the performance on Sunday December 14th. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children 12 and under.

Directed by Gil Thurman, Tim: A Christmas Story is a 90 minute retelling of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

Premier performances will be held at the John Hill Memorial Chapel on the Georgetown College campus. The Chapel is easy to find on the main road that runs through the campus, Jackson Street.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Four Playwrights Met

We started small yesterday-- but we started. Altogether, four playwrights-- Greta Fields, Steve Taylor, Bruce Williams and myself met to read plays we'd written. Each playwright brought a play, or an excerpt from a play and the four of us spent about 3 hours reading and discussing the scripts that we had on hand.

Bruce Williams is from Georgetown and author of a play that is actually in production; Steve Taylor, from Frankfort will see three of his short plays produced in January 2009. Greta Fields, from Whitesburg and Lexington and myself (from Lexington) are the cofounders of 517 Playwrights and do not have plays in production.

While we were few in number, we were high in enthusiasim and expect to hold another play reading in January 2009.

I'm Sorry

I've had two people contact me through the twitter account that they came but couldn't find us yesterday-- which probably means that others came, but didn't complain. I appologise to you all. I am so sorry that our communications were not what they should have been. I'll keep working to improve that. In the meantime, please don't give up. Those who came yesterday were enthusiastic about the need for a playwright's group. So please stay in touch. There will be a second meeting, some time in January 2009.