Dwayne Yancey
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Director praises “The One-Word Macbeth” as “one of the funniest things I have read”
I have a series of scripts in which I have taken classic works — usually by Shakespeare — and rendered them into scripts in which each character speaks a line of just one word.
The opening of “The One Word Macbeth” reads like this:
WITCH ONE: Thunder!
WITCH TWO: Lightning!
WITCH THREE: Rain!
WITCH ONE: Meeting!
WITCH TWO: Who?
WITCH THREE: Us!
WITCH TWO: Time?
WITCH ONE: Sunset!
WITCH TWO: Battle?
WITCH THREE: Finished!
WITCH TWO: Location?
WITCH ONE: Heath!
WITCH TWO: Subject?
WITCH THREE: Macbeth!
WITCH TWO: Ah!
WITCH ONE: Fair!
WITCH TWO: Foul!
WITCH THREE: Foul!
WITCH ONE: Fair!
A prospective director recently read this script (and a few others) and sent this praise:
“I’m pretty sure that One Word Macbeth is one of the funniest things I have read. So much so that I immediately handed it over to my stage manager with the instruction “You need to read this.” Then I just sat and watched her read it and laugh. (She agrees it’s hilarious!) I would LOVE to see the other ones. I just picture how it would play out on stage and it makes me happy. Also, I loved Hamlet Goes to Hollywood. So great!”
I’m hoping to get a production (or two) out of this.
Photos from “Sweets to the Sweet” in suburban Chicago
Posted in News, Photos, Productions on February 4, 2014
Hamlette (left) and Laurita (right) in their sword fight at the climax of “Sweets to the Sweet.”
In September, Gorilla Tango Theatre in Skokie, Illinois (an offshoot of the one in Chicago proper) staged my full-length script “Sweets to the Sweet.” At last, here are some photos from the show.
“Sweets to the Sweet” is my re-write of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. I’ve switched the genders — so Hamlet becomes Hamlette, Laertes becomes Laurita, Ophelia becomes Phil, Claudius becomes Claudia and so forth — and set the show in a modern-day slumber party. The language is modern, but includes all the famous Shakespeare lines. To me, it’s a way to help introduce audiences to the real thing. Plus, it creates a lot of female roles in what otherwise is a male-heavy show — and allows for some girls to try out stage combat.
Director Jessica Sawyer has shared these photos. So here goes: Read the rest of this entry »
Meet the Reverend Billy C. Wirtz
Posted in Personal on February 4, 2014
Playwright Dwayne Yancey with The Reverend Billy C. Wirtz.
Over the weekend, I caught up with an old college buddy of mine — the Reverend Billy C. Wirtz.
The title is real, if you believe in mail-order preacherhoods. “Reverend Billy,” as he’s been called since his college days at James Madison University, is a musician. Specifically, a master of boogie-woogie piano, with a touch of comedy on the side. He’s been called the ” Bertolt Brecht of the Bible Belt.” His 1990 album “Backslider’s Tractor Pull” won an award for Comedy Album of the Year by the National Association of Independent Record Distributors.
Now based in Florida, Reverend Billy has been off the road for a few years but is back out at it again. On January 31, he opened his new tour at Roanoke College. I caught up with him the next day for lunch (well, lunch for me, breakfast for him) at Bobbi Joe’s in Salem, where a friendly waitress took this photo.
Not familiar with The Reverend? Here’s his signature tune, “Mennonite Surf Party.” Enjoy.
“Hurleyburg Twirling Society” is finalist in Michigan festival
Posted in News, Uncategorized on February 4, 2014
My full-length script “The Hurleyburg Twirling Society” was one of 10 finalists out of 107 entries in a festival sponsored by the Branch County Community Theatre in Coldwater, Michigan.
Alas, it didn’t finish in the top three to qualify for production, but this marks the first official recognition of a script I’ve always thought would be fun to produce.
Here’s the formal description:
THE HURLEYBURG TWIRLING SOCIETY
A twirler from back East finds herself stranded in Texas, in trouble with the law for accidentally setting fire to a motel room with her fire baton. To make amends, the judge orders her to teach baton twirling to the girls in the town. However, there are only three — all daughters of a local survivalist, who would rather spend time in weapons training than in baton classes. Meanwhile, the state of Texas drops the town from the highway map. To get back on the map, the town busybody thinks it would be a fine idea for this new baton corps to march in the Cotton Bowl parade. Comedy ensues, involving batons, armadillos, chickens falling from the sky, and many other things Texan. Cast: Eight — five female, three male. The females consist of one senior, one late teens or early 20s who can twirl a baton, and three teens.
Congratulations to Thomas J. Misuraca, Richard Manley and Jeff Stolzer, who finished in the top three.
Video: “A Nice, Relaxing Cup of Tea” in Ontario walking tour festival
Posted in News, Productions, Uncategorized, Video on January 15, 2014
There’s a fascinating theatre festival each year in Kitchener, Ontario that I’d love to see — it’s a walking tour festival where audience members are led around downtown to various venues, and theatre occasionally breaks out.
While I haven’t been there, some of my work has been. In 2013, the Asphalt Jungle Shorts program included my piece “Requiem for a Buzzard” — you can find photos here from the June production and here from the September reprise.
Now the Asphalt Jungle Shorts folks have unearthed this video from the 2009 production of my short piece, “A Nice, Relaxing Cup of Tea.” Here, Nicholas Cumming and Emma Dines perform the piece at The Kava Bean, directed by Robin Bennett.
Photos from staged reading of “Softball Is Life”
Posted in News, Photos, Productions, Uncategorized on January 7, 2014
Larsen (played by Emma Sala) gets ready to throw a softball through a hornet’s nest, under the glaring eye of Mr. Barnett (Patrick Kennerly), the hard-hearted science teacher and softball coach and the hopeful eye of Kristin Turner (Kelly Anglim), the soft-hearted principal who hopes the feat will show the coach the troublesome student has a gift.
My latest full-length script, “Softball Is Life,” had a very successful staged reading on January 4, 2014 at Showtimers community theatre in Roanoke, Virginia. Strong performances, strong turn-out, plus I came away with a list of small tweaks to make to the script.
My goal with “Softball Is Life” was to write a sports play for women. This isn’t really a sports play, though. Except for the opening scene, the entire play takes place outside softball season. It’s really about family relationships. A former high school softball star sits in prison, estranged from her 14-year-old daughter who shares her mother’s talent for pitching but doesn’t realize it. Instead, the girl lives in fear of the creepy boyfriend of the cousin she’s living with. The script is set mostly in 1994-95, with a few flashbacks to 1979.
Melora Kordos, former artistic director of Studio Roanoke who is now active in Lynchburg theatre, came to town to direct the reading.
* Stage directions: Vickie Haynie
* Kristin Turner, the school principal: Kelly Anglim
* Mr. Wellington, the school principal in 1979: Gary Reid
* Mr. Barnett, the science teacher/softball coach: Patrick Kennerly
* Linda Alderson, the former high school softball star now in prison: Heather Sexton
* Larsen Alderson, her 14-year-old daughter: Emma Sala
* Prison guard: Stevie Holcomb
* Squirrel, the creepy boyfriend of the cousin that Larsen is living with: James Honaker
I have video of the reading here with a complete photo gallery here.
Here are some key shots below: Read the rest of this entry »
Video: Staged reading of “Softball Is Life”
Posted in News, Productions, Uncategorized, Video on January 7, 2014
A staged reading of my script “Softball Is Life” was held January 4, 2014 at Showtimers in Roanoke, Virginia. Here’s the video (reading was quite good, my video, not so much.)
Act 1 is above, Act 2 is below. Alas, the video cuts off in the final scene, so you miss the final minute or so.
From left to right:
* Vickie Haynie (stage directions), Heather Sexton (Linda, the former school softball star who is now in prison), Stevie Holcomb (prison guard), Patrick Kennerly (Mr. Barnett, the science teacher/softball coach), Kelly Anglim (high school principal), Emma Sala (Larsen, Linda’s daughter and an undiscovered phenom), Jeff Price (custodian), Gary Reid (Mr. Wellington, the former principal), and James Honaker (Squirrel, the creepy boyfriend of the cousin that Larsen is living with.)
Directed by Melora Kordos.
Cast photo from “On the Thirteeth Day of Christmas”
Posted in News, Photos, Productions, Uncategorized on December 19, 2013
Here’s a photo from “On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas,” which was produced this month at Santiam High School in Mill City, Oregon.
This was the first production of this script, and the sixth full-length script I’ve had produced.
MORE ON THE SHOW
* Director calls “On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas” a “true gem.”
* About “On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas.”
“On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas” called “a true gem”
Posted in News, Productions, Reviews, Uncategorized on December 17, 2013
One of my Christmas plays, “On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas,” was produced last week in Oregon at Santiam High School in Mill City.
This marks my sixth full-length script to be produced.
Director Bill Brown sends this account (and promises photos soon):
“It went very well. Many people commented on how funny the show was and all thoroughly enjoyed it . . . Thank you for the awesome opportunity to “test out” On the 13th Day of Christmas for you. It is a true gem.”
I have a synopsis — plus a list of my other full-length scripts that have been produced — here. As “On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas” is unpublished, it remains available royalty-free.
