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.
Showing posts with label Jr.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jr.. Show all posts
Friday, September 3, 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
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
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
Monday, June 21, 2010
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.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
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.
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.
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