Tuesday, January 8, 2019

New Play Weekend Rang in the New Year at Palm Beach Dramaworks


Palm Beach Dramaworks (PBD) just concluded a first -- an enormously successful and well attended New Year/New Plays Festival.  Five new plays received readings on PBD’s main stage as well as a lively discussion, “Regional Theatre and the Future of American Plays,” which featured panelists of industry professionals from major organizations.

This total immersion in developing new works is the result of The Dramaworkshop, managed by Bruce Linser.  William Hayes, the Producing Artistic Director of PBD created the workshop because of the theatre company’s strong belief that as a leading regional theatre it has an obligation to seek out and develop the very works that could become staples of other regional theatres as well as Broadway.  No longer does Broadway take chances on serious new dramas, defaulting to distinguished regional non-profit theaters like PBD for their development.

The five new plays were written by experienced playwrights, with their dramas well along in the development process.  These included “Red, White, Black and Blue” by Michael McKeever, “Drift” by William Francis Hoffman, “With” by Carter W. Lewis, “The Captives” by Barbara Blumenthal-Ehrlich, and “Ordinary Americans” by Joseph McDonough.
 
Panel discussion on the role of regional theatres in the development of new American plays, featuring left to right, Bruce Linser, the manager of PBD’s Dramaworkshop; Nan Barnett, executive director, National New Play Network, and formerly with Florida Stage; Haley Finn, Associate Artistic Director, Playwrights’ Center; Susan Westfall, Florida Representative, Dramatists Guild, and co-founder of City Theatre in Miami; and William Hayes, Producing Artistic Director, PBD. Photo by Samantha Mighdoll
The Festival began on Friday night and ended on Sunday with a luncheon for the playwrights, actors, and directors, as well as audience members.  The Festival then concluded with the performance of “Ordinary Americans,” and was followed by a Champagne toast to the hugely successful program and to all the participants.

These plays emphasized contemporary themes, and if one wonders what will draw the next generation of enthusiastic theater goers, plays such as these provide the answer.  Topics of relevancy to contemporary issues resonated.

Another commonality was the incredible performances of more than a score of professional actors who delivered the five plays, almost as fully realized productions.  Without staging, these actors and the plays’ directors were able to capture the emotion and humor intended by the playwrights.

As the playwrights were in attendance, each joined the actors on stage after the performance of his/her play for a valuable talk back with the audience.  Some had never been read before an audience, making the Festival a valuable opportunity for the playwrights to gauge a live audience’s reaction.  It is through such efforts that constructive revisions can be made before the plays reach the point of being ready for prime time.

Already, one of these works has been scheduled for a full production on the Palm Beach Dramaworks’ main stage next season, Joseph McDonough‘s “Ordinary Americans. ”  This play is about the early 1950’s sitcom “The Goldbergs,” and its irrepressible creator Gertrude Berg and her co star Philip Loeb who was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee.  The play wrestles with the political climate of McCarthyism, anti Semitism, the pioneering work of Gertrude Berg and her struggle to save her program and the career of her friend, Philip Loeb, taking on corporatocracy and enduring its consequences.  Its relevancy to the divisiveness of our times is obvious.

This first PBD New Plays Festival was so enthusiastically received that a second Festival has been scheduled for early next year, January 10-12, 2020.

Click here for a downloadable PDF retrospective of reviews or impressions of the incredible body of work undertaken by Palm Beach Dramaworks over the last several years.  Just a perusal of the table of contents reveals its extent and variety.  Now add new play development to PBD's vita.