2017 Wyoming Theater Festival Sets Lineup of New Plays and Musicals
By: BWW
News Desk Sep. 07, 2017
Sheridan, Wyoming - Playwrights, actors, directors, designers and technicians from all over the nation, the region and the state are converging upon Sheridan, Wyoming in August and September to develop new plays and musicals for the 2017 Wyoming Theater Festival.
Public presentations of nine titles - three fully staged developmental productions and six readings - will play on a repertory schedule September 7-17, 2017, in the black box Mars Theater within the WYO Performing Arts & Education Center at 42 N. Main Street in Sheridan.
Artistic director DannyLee Hodnett announced complete programming for the third annual Wyoming Theater Festival on August 31.
Visiting dramatists include Jeff Augustin, Rachel Bublitz, Stephanie Fagan, Kenneth Jones, Victor Lesniewski, Benny Lipson, Jack Lipson, Mark Saltzman, Gabrielle Sinclair and Jenny Rachel Weiner. Visiting directors include Colleen Britt, Scott Alan Evans and Larry Sousa.
More than 60 theater people are in service of bringing new plays and musicals to life for the third annual festival, a cultural program of Sheridan College's Whitney Center for the Arts. Since August 21, dramatists have teamed with professional actors, designers, directors to explore, rehearse, refine, rewrite and realize new plays in various stages of development - from early drafts to production-ready drafts.
For tickets and information for the 2017 Wyoming Theater Festival, call 307-672-9084, visit the box office at 42 N. Main, Sheridan, WY 82801, go online at wyotheater.com/wyoming-theater-festival or visit wyotf.com.
2017 WYOMING THEATER FESTIVAL PROGRAMMING:
The three fully-staged Developmental Productions are:
Another Roll of the Dice
Based on Stories by Damon Runyon
Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser and Hoagy Carmichael, Frederick Hollander,
Burton Lane, Jimmy McHugh and Victor Young
Directed by Larry Sousa
Musical Direction by Jack
Another Roll of the Dice re-unites songwriter Frank Loesser and author Damon Runyon, the brilliant comic minds who gave rise to the legendary Broadway musical Guys and Dolls. In Dice, three classic Runyon stories are intertwined with hits from the Frank Loesser songbook, tunes like Heart and Soul, Two Sleepy People and Let's Get Lost, and many more. Audiences who may be familiar with Nathan Detroit and Miss Adelaide from Guys and Dolls will delight in meeting some of their colleagues-in-crime from Runyonland: Joey Uptown, Baseball Hattie, Tobias the Terrible, singer Georgia St. George and the much-in-demand safecracker, Touch Feely.
Seven developmental performances in the Mars Theater at the WYO, Sept. 7-17
Thursday, September 7, 7 PM
Saturday, September 9, 2 PM
Sunday, September 10, 7 PM
Wednesday, September 13, 2 PM
Thursday, September 14, 7 PM
Saturday, September 16, 2 PM
Sunday, September 17, 2 PM
Hollywood, Nebraska
Directed by Scott Alan Evans
In the panhandle of Nebraska, two actresses of a certain age are making a homecoming in their dying small town. Jane's in from L.A. to check up on her ailing mother. Andrea's back from New York to bury her father. Will a disappearing dot on the map of the Great Plains provide a second act for each of them? A new rueful comedy about the urge to be creative, the itch to move away and the ache of reconnecting with the family and feelings that you thought you left behind.
Six developmental performances in the Mars Theater at the WYO, Sept. 8-16
Friday, September 8, 2 PM
Saturday, September 9, 7 PM
Tuesday, September 12, 2 PM
Wednesday, September 13, 7 PM
Friday, September 15, 2 PM
Saturday, September 16, 7 PM
The Resolute
By Gabrielle Sinclair
Directed by Colleen Britt
In the aftermath of the Civil War, when a respectable young lady didn't dare exercise her mind, let alone her body, a group of female students swung for the fences to claim America's pastime for their own. Can a seemingly simple game illuminate their true selves and empower them to forge an unbreakable team? Inspired by real events of the earliest women ball players, The Resolute is a coming of age story about sisterhood, the transformative power of play, and who we choose to be when no one is watching.
Six developmental performances in the Mars Theater at the WYO, Sept. 7-15
Thursday, September 7, 2 PM
Friday, September 8, 7 PM
Sunday, September 10, 2 PM
Tuesday, September 12, 7 PM
Thursday, September 14, 2 PM
Friday, September 15, 7 PM
The six titles in the Let's Hear It! reading series are:
jason&julia
A partnership between WyoTF and Roundabout Theatre Company's Space Jam series
Saturday, September 9 at 10:30 AM in the Mars Theater at the WYO
Viewed as a series of snapshots from the night Jason and Julia meet through the night they break up, jason&julia is an exploration of vulnerability, intimacy, and the complication of IKEA furniture told through a millennial relationship.
The New Englanders
In partnership between WyoTF and Roundabout Theatre Company's Space Jam series
Sunday, September 10 at 10 AM in the Mars Theater at the WYO
In a small New England town, husbands Aaron and Samuel discover their marriage in decline and their relationship with teenage daughter Eisa slowly deteriorating. The family finds themselves threatening to unravel just as they need each other the most. The New Englanders delves into the balancing act between family, self, and legacy.
Tentative City
By Victor Lesniewski
In partnership between WyoTF and Roundabout Theatre Company's Space Jam series
Tuesday, September 12 at 10:30 AM in the Mars Theater at the WYO
Personal philosophies collide as the denizens of a tent city collaborate, commiserate, and struggle to improve their lives. An exploration of our American ideal through the lens of its homeless.
Let's Fix Andy
By Rachel Bublitz
A reading presented by WyoTF in the Mars Theater at the WYO
Thursday, September 14 at 10:30 AM
Lucky for Andy, his best friends step up after they realize his closest relationship has become the one he shares with his extra-large tub of raw cookie dough. Unlucky for Andy, they're clueless.
The Witch Cage
By Stephanie Fagan
In partnership between WyoTF and Infinite Variety Productions in the Mars Theater at the WYO
Friday, September 15 at 10:30 AM in the Mars Theater at the WYO
It is just before sunrise. A woman waits for her torturer, a student waits for her teacher. A doctor wonders if today she will find the cure. In this small prison on the edge of town, all three learn what the oath 'first, do no harm' means to them.
Miranda, Please!
By Benny and Jack Lipson
A special musical reading presented by WyoTF in the Mars Theater at the WYO
Saturday, September 16 at 10:30 AM
Shenanigans ensue when the erratic, crazed Miranda Pines, former child star of the hit TV series "The Miranda Show" and "Not That," inadvertently arrives in Buffalo, New York. Bewilderingly based on a true story.
"We've been calling it an 'immersive' event because visiting artists really do become a part of the community and part of Sheridan College's wider life, and vice versa," says WyoTF artistic director DannyLee Hodnett. "Many local host families welcome playwrights and other artists, getting everyone more keenly interested in the sense of discovery that happens when pulling back the curtain on emerging works. The goal is to launch plays here in a modest form in the hope that the writers can revise them here and make them ready for full world-premiere productions at regional theaters across the nation. Sheridan College students, meanwhile, get valuable contact with professional theater makers and witness and participate in the process."
Post-performance audience talkbacks are scheduled after evening performances of Another Roll of the Dice, Hollywood, Nebraska and The Resolute, as well as after several readings. Through these talkbacks, festival audiences and Sheridan College students play a direct role in shaping the theater of tomorrow.
The 2017 acting company includes Rachel Hirshee, Nick Ley, Tito Livas*, Megan Moran, Gio Munguia and Alan Wager* (Another Roll of the Dice); Dean Biasucci, Nora Chester*, Elizabeth Howell*, Michelle Jasso, Corinne Landy and Joseff Stevenson (Hollywood, Nebraska); Laurel Anderson, Malin Barr, Katya Collazo, Erin Kranz, Claire Allegra Taylor and Kelly Teaford (The Resolute). The season stage managers are Betsy Ellsworth, Erica Hartmann and Robyn Monkarsh. (*Member, Actors' Equity Association)
The Wyoming Theater Festival 2017 production team includes costume designer Dee Sullivan; production manager Jerry Dougherty; and tech director/designer Christina Barrigan.
As previously announced, Wyoming Theater Festival is partnering with the Tony Award-winning Roundabout Theatre Company this season. As part of Roundabout's ongoing Space Jam initiative, playwrights Jeffery Augustin, Victor Lesniewski and Roundabout associate artist Jenny Rachel Weiner will be provided space to live and write in Sheridan, working at their own pace away from commercial or urban distraction. The Space Jam residency will culminate in three public readings presented by Wyoming Theater Festival.
In addition to the 2017 season's developmental productions and readings, the Wyoming Theater Festival offers workshops, discussions, talkbacks, and after parties...a full schedule of programing to delight theater lovers.
These events include:
THEATER 101: Come back to school as you interact with theater experts in a variety of workshops and discussions designed to illuminate and entertain. Come explore playwriting with playwrights, directing with directors, acting with actors, tech with techies, and theater with thespians.
TALKBACKS: Have you ever wondered what it is like to create theater in a festival setting? Stick around after the evening showings of Another Roll of the Dice, Hollywood, Nebraska, and The Resolute for a chat with the cast, creative team, and/or other festival folks. This is an opportunity discuss how the show impacted you, find out how others experienced it, and get to know the cast.
AFTER PARTIES: Thirsty for more festival fun? The night is young! Join us after each evening's performance at Weston Wineries' Tasting Room just ½ block north of the WYO Theater for our nightly After Party at 122 North Main Street. Your day's ticket stub/s will earn you a complimentary glass of wine. Come mingle with Wyoming Theater Festival's cast, crew, patrons, and other audience members.
The not-for-profit Wyoming Theater Festival is an immersive theater experience connecting playwrights, players and community by fostering the evolution of new and revitalized theatrical works. Now in its third season, the WyoTF is partnering with Roundabout Theatre Company, Infinite Variety Productions, and Sheridan College's Whitney Center for the Arts to develop new works worthy of today's audiences.
The festival is supported by Avis Rent-a-Car, Sheridan Economic and Education Development Authority, Sheridan Media, The Sheridan Press, Weston Wineries, Whitney Benefits, Wyoming Arts Council, WYO Theater, and the many community members who volunteer as well as those who open their homes to host our casts, crews, and creative teams.
The Wyoming Theater Festival - launching tomorrow's plays today from one of the most beautiful landscapes in the West!
Visit wyotf.com for more information.
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