Great Minds at Work and It's a Community Effort! The One Act Festival Returns to Birmingham Village Players

The local theatre community in Metro Detroit is amazing and the authors of Playwrights@Work (P@W), the writers' group at Birmingham Village Players, have been warmly welcomed by them. One Acts written by P@W members have been or will be staged at four local theatres this summer. Now the Playwrights@Work One Act Festival is scheduled to return to the Village Players stage July 29-31, 2022.

The four brand-new one-acts selected include Comic Book Hero by Jackie Sue Salter, The Prize by Stephen Sussman, Not My Son by Jennifer Ward, and The Final Frontier by Udi Kapen. The shows are cast and everyone is excited to bring these new stories to life.

Comic Book Hero features a comic book writer, C.J., who is bored with her job until she finds inspiration in her best friend...except her inspiration could cost her the friendship.

In The Prize, Ben, a talented young architect enters a design competition with significant rewards for the winner. As he labors on his concept, he finds out that his situation has changed, and the stakes have just become higher.

Not My Son is the story of three women who meet in a hospital emergency room, each one believing that her only child has been gravely injured in a shooting, but the hospital is having trouble identifying the victim.

In The Final Frontier, a milquetoast bank executive who is subservient to his domineering wife, retreats into the world of Star Trek when his reality becomes too much for him to endure. He finds a ray of hope and an inner strength he didn't know he had when he unexpectedly discovers a kindred spirit.

Tickets are general admission seating and cost only $10. They are available by calling the box office, 248-644-2075, or by clicking on the ticket page of the website. The plays can be seen Friday and Saturday (July 29-30) at 8pm and Sunday (July 31) at 2pm.

More P@W authors have had their work picked up by other community theatres. Here's a rundown of the local community theatre scene.

P@W member Danny Dubin always has an interesting angle for his plays. His most recent one act, Avenue PU, features sock puppets and delves into the world of bullying in an age appropriate and non-threatening way. It was selected for production by the Novi Civic Theater Summer Camp and will make its stage debut on July 15 at the Novi Civic Center.

Another VP/P@W member, Tara Makar, wrote three short one acts (Goodnight Gracie, It's a Stretch, and Figments: Three Acts of Love). The plays star several VP members. The production can be seen July 19 and 26th at Five15 in Royal Oak. It's part of Stagecrafters Fringe Festival.

P@W member Jennifer Ward wrote Driveway Dating which was featured in the Farmington Players One Act Festival in June.

Another play written by Dubin, 2 Minute Warning, completed a two-week run at Rosedale Community Players One-Act Festival earlier this year. The comedy focused on aliens trying to take over the world who meet up at a Red Wings game. Dubin had a starring role as one of the aliens.

Finally, one of P@W's founding members, Myron Stein, recently had one of his plays accepted at the Chain Theatre in New York.

All these theatre groups can't be wrong about the incredible talent at Village Players. Find out for yourself when the Playwrights@Work One Act Festival hits the stage July 29-31, 2022.

The Village Players of Birmingham, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit community theater, presents high quality dramatic, comedic, and musical productions. Everyone is invited to participate on stage, backstage or as an audience member in the theater's main stage, youth theater, and Playwrights@Work productions and programs. The Village Players have been entertaining the community from its location at 34660 Woodward Avenue in Birmingham since 1926.

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