Jan McArt Set for WAVE YOUR FLAG! as Part of New Play Reading Series at Lynn University

"Jan McArt is my muse!," says award-winning South Florida playwright Tony Finstrom. "She has such a vivid, commanding, larger-than-life stage presence. And she's such a terrific singer! That makes it easy, and a pleasure, for me to write something with her in mind, as there's nobody else quite like her."

Finstrom's latest, a new play with music titled 'WAVE YOUR FLAG!,' is soon to be unveiled for the first time on any stage Wednesday, April 6th, at 7:30 PM, as part of the 'Jan McArt New Play Reading Series' at Boca Raton's Lynn University, where Producer McArt continues to develop new work by South Florida playwrights.

And she will star.

"I set out to write a kind of 'Alice in Wonderland' / 'Wizard of Oz' piece, where my Alice / Dorothy doesn't exactly stumble down a rabbit hole or get carried off in a cyclone," explains Finstrom. "Instead, while watching an old film on television one dark, stormy night, she literally falls into the movie.

"And suddenly there's this millennial college kid on a train, in 1942; a train filled with movie stars touring across America, selling war bonds and promoting their new film about Betsy Ross. With a Nazi spy or two on board!

"My Alice / Dorothy is played by Jessica Brooke Sanford. And Jan plays a Marlene Dietrich type German-American film star on that train," says Finstrom. "And in an 'Alice in Wonderland' / 'Wizard of Oz' scenario I suppose she'd be considered the Red Queen or the Wicked Witch. But she gets to sing seven or eight songs, depending on the number of musical moments we decide to cut, or ad, during rehearsals."

Sanford, currently featured in Slow Burn Theatre Company's production of 'SPRING AWAKENING,' will soon be pulling double duty, as she begins rehearsing 'WAVE YOUR FLAG!' by day while performing'SPRING AWAKENING' by night at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

After six days of rehearsals the fully staged reading of 'WAVE YOUR FLAG!' will then be presented, for one night only in the beautiful Keith C. and Elaine Johnson Wold Performing Arts Center of Lynn University, directed by Wayne Rudisill, with musical staging provided by Kevin Black, and musical direction by Phil Hinton.

The cast, starring McArt & Sanford, also features Jeffrey Bruce, Barbara Sloan, Dominic Smith, Sandi Stock and Jay Stuart.

McArt, often referred to as the First Lady of Florida Theatre, says "This promises to be one of the best we've ever presented here, and I can't wait to see how it plays out on our stage, after a solid week of work with this marvelous cast and director."

She runs this award-winning play reading series at Lynn, where playwrights get the chance to bring a new play to life, working with a cast and a director for six days - rehearsing, re-writing, rehearsing, rewriting. Then, at the end of those six days, their new, polished, reworked play is presented to the public in performance, fully staged, with actors up on their feet, scripts in hand, employing minimal costumes, sets, lighting and sound, to aid them in the presentation of the new work.

'WAVE YOUR FLAG!'' is the fourth and final show in the 2015-16 lineup for Jan McArt's New Play Reading Series at Lynn University. A new four-play season for this series, scheduled for 2016-17, will soon be announced, with subscriptions available at discounted rates.

Tickets are currently available for 'WAVE YOUR FLAG!' at $10 each. Call 561-237-9000, or go towww.lynn.edu/tickets for more information.

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