Tony Finstrom's WAVE YOUR FLAG! Set for 'Jan McArt New Play Reading Series' at Lynn University Tomorrow

"I was beginning to think it would never happen!," says award-winning South Florida playwright Tony Finstrom. "We first scheduled 'WAVE YOUR FLAG!' to debut at 'Jan McArt's New Play Reading Series' on Monday, April 4th.

"Then we discovered the South Florida Carbonell Theatre Awards were going to be held on that same evening, so we moved the date (which has never been done before in the history of this Lynn University play reading series) to Wednesday, April 6th.

"Then two people in our company got sick, and we had to postpone the performance once again; this time moving it to Friday, June 10th, which was the next available date for the Wold Performing Arts Center, apparently. ... After Memorial Day."

So Finstrom's latest, the new play with music titled 'WAVE YOUR FLAG!,' will finally be unveiled for the first time on any stage this Friday, June 10th, 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.

"Jan McArt is my muse!," Finstrom says. "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."

She will star in 'WAVE YOUR FLAG!'

"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 last season's Carbonell Award-winning actress Lindsey Corey. 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."

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 Ron Hutchins, and musical direction by Phil Hinton.

The cast, starring McArt & Corey, also features Michael McKeever, Barbara Sloan, Sandi Stock, Jay Stuart, Mike Westrich, and little two-month-old Daisy Tanner.

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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