Wrigley Field Moves to Minneapolis!

Bill McCann's 10-minute play THERE IS NO WRIGLEY FIELD will be given a staged reading at the Mid-America Theatre Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Friday March 5, 2011 as part of the conference's Playwriting Symposium. The play will be directed by Phylis Ravel, Marquette University with Martine Kei Green, University of Wisconsin-Madison, serving as dramaturg.

The play takes place in the minutes between the time "David" gets home-- and announces that he wants to leave and consider whether or not he wants to leave his 20 year marriage to "Rita"-- and when Rita pulls rolls for dinner out of the oven. David is to be played by Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson, University of Illinois-Springfield. Rita will be performed by Missy Thibodeaux-Thompson, University of Illinois-Springfield.

Bill McCann is a member of the Kentucky Playwrights Workshop, Inc. He is a co-founder with Greta Fields, of 517 Playwrights and a member of Dramatist's Guild. Currently, he is working on a MA in Theatre at the University of Kentucky and working at Bluegrass Community and Technical College, both in Lexington, KY.

Six New Plays to be Read on Sunday

Six new plays will be given first readings at the next meeting of 517 Playwrights on Sunday February 13, 2011. The readings of new scripts, all by Kentucky playwrights-- will take place from 2-5 pm at Common Grounds Coffee House in Lexington. Among the plays are two short one acts by Heidi Saunders, a 30 minute one act by Bill McCann and three related 10-minute plays by George McGee. The meeting is open to both the members and the public. If you have an interest in the development of new works for the stage, please join us.

More About Playwrights Whose Works Will be Read at The Bards Town

The rest of the playwrights whose plays will be read on Sunday November 14, 2010 at the Bards Town, 1801 Bardstown Road in Louisville, Ky are listed below:

Sara Ilyse Jacobson author of Nephrology is from Baltimore, MD. Other plays include Have Your Cake, The Heart is Hollow and Past Shadows Dark and Deep, which was selected as first runner-up in the 1999 Agnes Nixon Playwriting Competition. Her plays have been produced in Baltimore, Washington, DC and in New York City.

Bill McCann the author of There is No Wrigley Field is a graduate student in Theatre at the University of Kentucky, a founding member of the Kentucky Playwrights’ Workshop, Inc. and a co-founder of 517 Playwrights. Bill is also an actor who most recently appeared as Charlie Martin in On Golden Pond for Little Colonel Playhouse in Pewee Valley, KY

George J. McGee, co-author of Digging for Diamonds, is from Georgetown, Kentucky. He holds a B.F.A from Illinois Wesleyan University, in Drama, and a M.F.A. from Florida Atlantic University, in Acting and Directing. He is a Professor and Director of Theatre at Georgetown College, Georgetown, Kentucky.

McGee was a member of the Chicago based sketch comedy group, ‘The American Dream’, and was the Artistic Director of the Palm Beach Children’s Theatre. He has appeared in film, network television, commercials and industrials. McGee is also an actor, performing as ‘Kentucky’s Greatest Statesman, Henry Clay’, for the Kentucky Humanities Council’s, Chautauqua program.

Louise Penberthy, the author of No More Than Reason, isan actor, playwright, and director. Recent productions include “Miss Hannah Comes Back” at Pierce College in Tacoma, Washington, and her short play “The Cougar in the Coffeehouse” in the Erotic Shorts Festival at the Little Red Studio in Seattle. Louise lives in Seattle with her husband and two cats. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

Brian Walker a Louisville based playwright,is the author of Linda and Kirk and the Mouse Incident. Brian is the artistic director of Louisville, Kentucky based Finnigan Productions and has written and produced several full length plays in the Louisville area, including: Smoke this Play, Great American Sex Play, dirty sexy derby play and ZOMBIE!. Walker is the creator and co-producer of Finnigan’s Festival of Funky Fresh Fun, an annual 10-minute play festival celebrating independent theatre artists in the Louisville area.

Brian was awarded the Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowship Emerging Artist Award for playwriting by the Kentucky Arts Council in July 2010. He is a member of The Dramatists Guild, The Playwrights’ Center, The Kentucky Theatre Association The Kentucky Playwrights Workshop and the Theatre Alliance of Louisville.

Berea Arts Council to have a reading of plays written by Bill McCann, Jr.

The Berea Arts Council recently announced an evening of short play readings by Lexington playwright Bill McCann, Jr. The monthly Second Friday Reading, Friday, September 10 will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Berea Arts Council’s ArtSpace, 116 N. Main Street, Berea, Ky.

Bill is a graduate student in Theatre at the University of Kentucky, a founding member of the Kentucky Playwrights’ Workshop, Inc. and a co-founder (with Greta Fields) of 517 Playwrights. Bill is executive producing this year’s Kentucky Festival of New Plays, which will be held November 19th and 20th at The Bard’s Town, 1801 Bardstown Road, Louisville, KY. The event will be sponsored by the KPW and The Bards Town.

The dramatic and entertaining short plays to be read contain adult language and content. In Barn Yard Conversation a cow falls for a pig. Before the dinner rolls rise in There Is No Wrigley Field a marriage falls apart. And we’ll hear about a Christmas party that turns out badly for the ‘host’ family in Christmas Party.

There is no admission charged for this event, but a donation of $5 is encouraged to help support the work of the BAC. For additional information on the Second Friday program please contact the Berea Arts Council at (859) 985-9317.

The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, supports the Berea Arts Council with state tax dollars and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Organizational Meeting Held

A meeting to formally organize the Kentucky Playwrights Workshop, Inc. was held on the afternoon of August 15, 2010 at Common Grounds Coffee House in Lexington, KY. At that meeting the KPW adopted Bylaws, a policy manual and the membership elected a Board of Directors and approved dues for 2010 - 2011 of $10. Members who pay their dues on or before September 30, 2010 will be recognized as KPW's "Founding Members."

Individuals elected to the first Board of Directors are: Shan Ayers, Berea (Secretary); James Brown, Lexington (Treasurer) and Bill McCann, Jr., Lexington (President). The Board members will serve until the Annual Meeting of Active Members in September 2011, or until their successors are elected or appointed.

Membership in the Kentucky Playwrights Workshop, Inc. is open to any Kentuckian interested in the production of new works for the stage.

KPW is organized as a non-profit corporation under the laws of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Membership and Board Meetings are open to the general public. Copies of the Bylaws as amended and approved at the Organizational meeting on August 15th are available upon request by sending a request to ky.playwright@yahoo.com

A Better Picture

Another picture from the June 13th meeting of
517 Playwrights. Left to Right are: James Brown,
Bill McCann, Jr., Steve Taylor, and Kathi E. B.
Ellis. Bill Forsyth was the photographer. (An un-
known coffee drinker/blogger is in the background.) Please come join us for our next meeting on July 11th, 2:00 pm at Common
Grounds Coffee House.

Picture Us: 517 Playwrights

Members of 517 Playwrights gathered at Common Grounds Coffee House on Sunday June 13th included: (l to r) Bill McCann, Jr, Steve Taylor, Kathi E. B. Ellis, and James Brown. The photo was taken by yet another member, Bill Forsyth. Missing are Shan and Trish Ayres and Jim Betts. New members are always welcome. The next meeting will be Sunday July 11th at Common Grounds at 2:00 pm. Anyone who has an interest in encouraging the development of new works for the stage is welcome to join us.

1st Anniversary will Soon be Here!

The first anniversary of 517 Playwrights is coming up! On the Sunday following Thanksgiving last year-- November 30, 2008-- the first meeting of 517 Playwrights was held in the kitchen of a house on Georgetown Road outside Lexington, KY. At that first meeting-- hosted by Greta Fields-- Bruce Williams, Steve Taylor, Bill McCann, Jr. and Greta Fields read through Bruce William's delightful full-length play TIM: A CHRISTMAS STORY while enjoying snacks and drinks provided by Greta Fields.

Members of 517 Playwrights took the month of December 2008 off. In January 2009, at a meeting of the group at the Beaumont Branch of the Lexington Public Library, Jim Betts joined the group. As the meeting was winding down Betts suggested that the group should hold a 10 minute play contest. There was enthusiasim for the idea so a day or two later Bill McCann, Jr., who had been serving as moderator of 517 meetings announced on line that the group was holding a play contest for 10 minute plays beginning February 1, 2009 and ending July 30th or whenever it "received 100 entries."

At the February meeting of 517 Playwrights Bill McCann announced that he had done as the membership had asked and posted the rules inviting entries for the 517 Playwrights 10 Minute Play Contest. However, it quickly became evident that the posting was a mistake; noone had meant to begin a play contest. Misunderstanding or not though members agreed that since the contest had been posted the contest should be held. So, the contest continued, and entries continued to arrive in Bill's email mail box.

Who would have guessed that the 100th entry would be received March 11th 2009; the contest was "closed" that same day. The play contest had been advertised in only two places: this blog and Playwrights Forum! According to the contest rules the submission period ended with the 100th entry. But getting that word out was more difficult than that there was a contest. Entries continued to arrive, more than 150 total!

At the March meeting it was evident 517 might have bitten off more than it could chew. We had more than 100 plays to read and judge, what now?

Invited Audience Performance

Tonight the "Festival of New Plays" in Midway, Kentucky will unofficially open with a final dress rehearsal before an invited audience of friends and family, theatre people and critics from across the local area.

More than 150 people from community, college and university, and professional theatres have been invited to attend the final dress rehearsal for this year's inaugeral "Festival of New Plays."
Additionally, invitations went out to members of the press and, of course, were given out to members of the plays' casts and crew.

Asked whether or not everyone ws ready for tonight's debut Jim Bett, producer of the event and director Steven Schutzman's The Weight, said, "Sure. We've all been working on this project for months. The actors and directors are all excited to get on stage and perform. Hopefully, we'll have a full house tonight and for every performance."

Tonight's invited guest performance begins at 8:00 pm. Performances on Friday and Saturday begin at 7:30; Sunday's matinee performance begins at 3:00 pm. Tickets for the weekend performances are still available at $10 each.

Sunday September 13th

Friday the 13th is supposed to be bad luck. No such superstition is attached to a Sunday the 13th so there is nothing to keep you from joining 517 Playwrights this coming Sunday at 2:00 for our regular meeting at the Beaumont branch of the Lexington Public Library.

We will be meeting in the small conference room there at the library for the purpose of doing a table reading of Bill McCann Jr.'s newest script, It's Who You Know: A Play about Identity and Opportunity.

Set 30 years in the future It's Who You Know is about a president of the United States and how he goes about the process of selecting a nominee for the Supreme Court. The President and his two aides (Bernard and Mac) are faced with selecting a nominee from a field that has been winowed, by Bernard, to four. The four candidates include two law school professors (one African American and one white), a federal appeals court judge (a white female) and a former two term MA attorney general who has only recently undergone gender reassignment surgery (and is now a transman).

Reading the script is an opportunity for the playwright to hear how his words sound aloud. After the reading the floor will be opened for comments and discussion about the script. Generally, the playwright doesn't respond much to the comments the purpose of which are to give him feedback that may (or may not) be reflected in changes to the script.

Up to this point the organization has done only table readings of members' scripts. At some point in the future, we will no doubt do public readings for an invited audience. And there is also some possibility that we may-- under the auspices of the Kentucky Playwrights' Workshop, Inc.-- produce some scripts either as script-in-hand readings, workshop productions, or even full-scale productions of members' scripts. But all of that is in the future.

For now we are focused on doing table readings. Please join us for our meeting this Sunday and a reading of It's Who You Know: A Play about Identity and Opportunity. The reading will be at the Beaumont Branch of the Lexington Public Library beginning at 2:00 pm. Please join us.

Busy, busy, busy fall

As a teacher my definition of the season includes that fall has arrived when students are back on campus and the yellow school busses are again prowling neighborhood streets picking up and disgorging children. Fall is here: school is back in session!

Fall finds members of 517 Playwrights very busy indeed. Jim Betts is producing our evening of 10 minute plays, even as he is busy directing one of them: Steven Schutzman's The Weight. Jim is also producing another play, Shakespeare Abridged for a different local community theatre. And, full-time Jim is the owner, chief baker, and bottle washer at Bluegrass Baking Company at 3101 Claysmill Road, Lexington: 859 296-0581. (The Chocolate Mousse Cake is fabulous!)

Bill McCann, Jr. is getting his play, Its Who You Know: A Play about Identity and Opportunity, ready for its first (table) reading on September 13th; after the reading he is planning to make some additional revisions before submitting it to Sundance. Bill is in rehearsal for On Golden Pond in which he plays Charlie Martin. The curtain on On Golden Pond, produced by the Little Colonel Players in Pewee Valley, KY, will rise on Sept 24th for seven performances. (Reservations at 502 588-1557). Luckily for Bill he has few responsibilities for the Evening of 10-Minute Plays or he'd be burned out long before the second weekend in October!

Steve Taylor, a lawyer by profession a playwright by aspiration, is working on a larger stage than the rest of us. Steve is preparing briefs and arguments for a case he is arguing before the Kentucky Supreme Court later this fall.

Last, but certainly not least, Bruce Williams is seeking a second production by actively promoting his full-length play Tim: A Christmas Story; he is also awaiting word from Baker Plays as to whether or not they will publish it. Additionally, Bruce is appearing in Leon Kaye's More Pasta.

We're a diverse group with lots of talent. What we lack though is the talent YOU could bring to our little but ambitious group. Join us on September 13th for the next meeting of 517 Playwrights at the Beaumont Branch of the Lexington Public Library. The meeting will begin at 2:00 pm in the small conference room where we will read a members' work and then discuss it. Join us. 517 Playwrights is open to anyone-- actors, directors, playwrights, theatregoers-- with an interest in helping develop new works for the stage.

Next Meeting: Sunday September 13, 2009

The next meeting of 517 Playwrights will be Sunday September 13, 2009 at the Beaumont Branch of the Lexington Public Library. The meeting will run from 2:00 to 5:00 pm solely for the purpose of reading and discussing new works by our playwright members.

The play to be read and discussed will be Bill McCann, Jr.'s full-length play It's Who You Know: A Play about Identity and Opportunity. The play, set 30 years in the future, is about the selection of a nominee to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. With two unit sets, ten scenes that all take place in the White House, seven characters (President, Mac and Bernard aides to the president, and four potential nominees for the court), this is a play of ideas and comedy which asks several question including: is the country ready for a trans-gendered female to serve on the highest court in the land?

Bill McCann, Jr., is a cofounder of 517 Playwrights and Treasurer of the Kentucky Playwrights' Workshop, Inc. His play There is No Wrigley Field was a 2007 finalist in the Lakeshore Players' 10-Minute Play Contest. As an actor Mr. McCann is currently in rehearsal for On Golden Pond that is being produced by Little Colonel Players in Pewee Valley, KY; Mr. McCann is playing the role of Charlie Martin.

If you would like to read an excerpt from It's Who You Know prior to September 13 please request it by writing ky.playwright@yahoo,com

Though we need playwright members, you need not be a playwright to attend our meetings. Meetings of 517 Playwrights are open to anyone having an interest in reading and supporting the development of new works for the stage.

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.