Playwright Festival Winner - Knish Alley! Free Reading

By: Beau Higgins Aug. 15, 2006

Palm Beach Dramaworks announces

"Knish Alley!"

Winning Script of its 2006 Playwright's Festival

Reading Set for Monday, August 21st

After appraising numerous new plays submitted to Palm Beach Dramaworks 2006 Playwright's Festival, the festival judges have announced Tony Finstrom's heart-warming romantic comedy "Knish Alley!" as this year's winning script. The play will be read on Monday, August 21st (7PM) at its conveniently located theatre in downtown West Palm Beach (322 Banyan Boulevard). Admission is FREE, but reservations are necessary.

Knish Alley! is set in the early part of the last century, as a troupe of poor Yiddish actors travel to America on board a luxury liner (in steerage) working menial jobs on the ship by day and performing operettas up on deck by night, uncertain of the fate that awaits them at their journey's end: New York's Second Avenue, otherwise known as Knish Alley. It's a fond look back at the theatrical acting legends of the day: the Adlers, the Thomashevskys, the Kesslers, and at the way things were (and the way things might have been) on board such a ship bound for a new land, a new language, and the promise of a new beginning.

Upon hearing the good news, Mr. Finstrom said, "Knish Alley! has been a playwright's dream in terms of how it's been developed in South Florida. Early, rough readings were guided by Andy Rogow (of the Hollywood Playhouse,) Allen Michael Grosman (of the On The Boards Theatre in Dania Beach ), Ellen Greenwald (of The Boca Raton Theatre Guild) and David Jay Bernstein (of The Public Theatre of South Florida.) Characters came and went, the setting changed, and these people guided me in my rewrites and helped me edit it into what I ultimately submitted to the Palm Beach Dramaworks' Best New Play Competition. I'm thrilled that all our hard work and efforts to bring a bit of theatre history alive again have been rewarded by one of the most exciting young theatre companies in the state."

Established by Evelyn Crawford Gluckman, a fellow playwright and supporter of the arts, the festival is intended to encourage aspiring playwrights, and to honor the achievement of the best original play of the year. The winning script is selected from submissions by Florida playwrights and receives a professionally staged reading at the Festival. The winning script is named "Best New Play" and its playwright receives a $500 cash prize.

Palm Beach Dramaworks is a non-profit, professional theatre and is a member of the Theatre Communications Group, the South Florida Theatre League, Florida Professional Theatres Association, Florida Theatre Conference, and the Palm Beach County Cultural Council.

The theatre is located in the heart of downtown West Palm Beach, at 322 Banyan Boulevard, between Dixie Highway and Olive Avenue. Parking is offered across the street for a nominal fee, or in the City Garage on the corner of Olive Avenue and Banyan Boulevard for $1.00 per hour with the first hour free! For ticket and reservations information contact the box office at (561) 514-4042, open Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5pm or visit their website at www.palmbeachdramaworks.org.

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