HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A PLAY IN A RECORD STORE?! World Premiere Comedy To Be Staged In Downtown Annapolis Record Store

Maryland-based playwright and long-time professor of theatre at Bowie State University Bob Bartlett is no stranger to staging his work in unusual locations. During Covid he staged one of his plays in his backyard, and last fall premiered his new play about werewolves, Lýkos Ánthrōpos, in a wooded clearing on a farm in Central Maryland. A few years ago, he premiered his time-bending romantic comedy, The Accident Bear, which sold out its five-week run to critical acclaim at the Laundromat on Maryland Avenue in historic downtown Annapolis, Maryland. And, now, he's back on Maryland Avenue with Love and Vinyl, his new play about browsing for love and vinyl in the digital age and which will run evenings throughout the summer at KA-CHUNK!! Records in Annapolis. The intimate production will seat only ten audience members per performance.

The Helen Hayes Award-winning Bartlett says the idea to create site-specific theatre, which he believes has the potential to engage audiences in more immediate ways than theatre staged in traditional spaces, came while he was living in a downtown walk-up on Maryland Avenue over a decade ago. "I've always been drawn to theatre produced in unique locations," he says. "And more than simply Shakespeare in the park." Always on the lookout for compelling locations where acts of theatre and storytelling can happen, Bartlett often writes with specific spaces in mind. "I've loved KA-CHUNK!! Records, and spaces like it, for as long as I can remember." After spending many years working in retail - and owning a record store for a number of years - Bartlett enjoys mining stories from unexpected performance spaces and exploring the relationships with coworkers and interactions with the public that happen in them. "Like so many of us," he adds, "I mourned the loss of record stores and vinyl, and the ritual of heading to the local shop or even downtown to Tower Records on a Saturday night to meet friends and spend hours browsing for music."

The loss of retail establishments that came with the arrival of downloadable music, however, did not last as predicted. Every time he visited KA-CHUNK!! Records to browse and buy vinyl, he envisioned a play happening in the space, so he finally approached owner Matt Mona about a project. "I remembered Bob's play in the laundromat," Mona says, "which was only a couple stores down from mine. I thought the idea was cool, and we already occasionally host bands at KA-CHUNK!! for small audiences." He adds, "I'm excited for our customers and all of Annapolis to get to experience this kind of story - a play about our shared love of vinyl."

Mona opened KA-CHUNK!! Records in 2010 at a time when there were no record stores in Annapolis or Anne Arundel County. "They still make records?" and "do you actually do well here?" were common queries to his business. "Thirteen years later and several record sales later, I'm still here!", notes Mona, "And I appreciate my varied customer base." Mona subscribes to the Bruce Springsteen philosophy of record stores: "everybody in a record store is a little bit your friend for twenty minutes or so."

Love and Vinyl features regional actors Andy Brownstein, who won the Helen Hayes Award for his work in Signature Theatre's Assassins, Carlos Saldaña, who also directs the production, and Rachel Manteuffel, who appeared in Bartlett's laundromat play, The Accident Bear.

Because of the uniqueness of the venue/performance space, the production seats only ten guests per performance. Audience seating is provided. Masks optional.

Love and Vinyl will run Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 8:00 PM from June 29 - August 6, 2023 at 8:00 PM at KA-CHUNK!! Records on Maryland Avenue in Downtown Annapolis.

Love and Vinyl runs 85 minutes with no intermission.

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