Theatre 40 Presents New Season Of Virtual Seminars, Beginning January 24

The first 2022 session of Theatre 40's popular series of Monday Night Seminars will be conducted on Zoom. Each date of the series will feature the reading of a play by Theatre 40's actors, followed by a Q&A period. The theme of this session is Strange Plays for Strange Days.. The series is moderated by Melanie MacQueen and John Leslie. Each reading will be directed by either Ms. MacQueen or Mr.Leslie.

The plays currently scheduled include:

Jan. 24: Call Me Waldo by Rob Ackerman. Lee Fountain is an ordinary electrician: his boss doesn't appreciate him, his wife keeps correcting him, and his life seems to have lost all meaning. But when Lee starts channeling the spirit of Ralph Waldo Emerson, everyone wakes up.

Jan. 31: Meteor Shower by Steve Martin. Corky and Norm are excited to host Gerald and Laura at their home in the valley outside Los Angeles to watch a once-in-a-lifetime meteor shower. But as the stars come out and the conversation gets rolling, it becomes clear that Gerald and Laura might not be all that they appear to be. Over the course of a crazy, starlit dinner party, the wildly unexpected occurs.

Feb. 7: Netherlands by Don Nigro. Van Gogh sits in the rain on a park bench in the shadow of a windmill. A Dutch girl wearing wooden shoes and carrying a pail of clabber joins him. She is obsessed with tulips and all things Dutch. He is hallucinating and gives her a little wooden coffin. (It looks like a dried Apricot, but is actually his ear.) Then, this play begins to get weird.

The Bohemian Seacoast by Don Nigro. A bench. The mad Shakespearean scholar Delia Bacon has devoted her life to proving that his plays were actually written by her namesake, Francis Bacon. Ignored by all, she talks her way into Shakespeare's tomb and intends to spend the night digging up evidence to support her contention. She does not expect the bard himself to appear, or other snobs and cretins who can't believe a poor actor from Stratford could have written such plays.

Feb. 28: Edith in the Dark by Philip Meeks. Celebrated children's author Edith Nesbit escapes her annual Christmas Eve soiree and finds herself in her attic writing room with a young male guest and Biddy Thricefold, her loyal housekeeper. The trio decide to observe the festive tradition of reading scary stories to help ward off wicked spirits, choosing the stories penned by Nesbit herself. Yet as they breathe life into these terrifying creations, all is not as it seems. . .

Mar. 7: Bloomsday by Steven Dietz. Robert returns to Dublin to reunite with Cait, the woman who captured his heart during a James Joyce literary tour thirty-five years ago. Dancing backwards through time, the older couple retrace their steps to discover their younger selves. Through young Robbie and Caithleen, they relive the unlikely, inevitable events that brought them-only briefly-together.

Mar. 14: One-act plays TBA.

Mar. 21: Six Years Old by Sam Silbiger. Adalaide is six years old, and she knows a few things: Her stupid babysitter Kim is stupid, her younger brother Dewey is a naked mole rat, and she does NOT like being treated like a girl. Though Kim takes Adalaide's frustrations seriously and tries to offer support, Adalaide's family and peers discourage her, leaving her to seek out dangerous measures in order to transform into who she was born to be (her hero, Han Solo).

Mar. 28: The Fever by Wallace Shawn. The nameless narrator of this blistering monologue lies ill and alone in a dreary hotel room in a poverty-stricken country. A political execution is about to take place beneath his window. Far from the glib comforts of his own life, he struggles with memories and his own conscience, which are challenged by the misery and poverty he sees.

Seminars are at 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time on each date.

All seminars are free events. Theatre 40 is a non-profit organization, so all donations will be gratefully accepted at http://theatre40.org

You can access the seminars at 7:00 p.m. on the dates specified by clicking on this Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86958117238?pwd=R0pUWXF5bUtDWG1iT05VbitQcmV1dz09

Theatre 40 is the professional theatre company of Beverly Hills.

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