Archive for category Productions
“The Ring” finished second out of 260 entries in Wisconsin
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Photos, Productions, Uncategorized on May 29, 2014
My second place certificate.
I’m a pack rat, so I always ask theatres that perform my work to send me posters, programs, photos, and what not if they can. When The Haylofters in Burlington, Wisconsin recently performed my one-act, THE RING, I didn’t have to ask. Since this was a competition, the theatre mailed me my certificate.
As previously noted, THE RING took second place in the audience vote. What I didn’t realize until I read the program was there had been 260 entries. Second place out of 260? I’ll take that!
Thanks, Wisconsin!
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that THE RING, like all my unpublished work, is available royalty-free. I explain why here.
More photos below: Read the rest of this entry »
“The Ring” takes second place in audience vote at Wisconsin festival
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Reviews, Uncategorized on May 21, 2014
My one-act, THE RING, took second place in the audience vote at the annual one-act festival put on by The Haylofters in Burlington, Wisconsin.
Thanks, Wisconsites!
THE RING is one of several sports plays for women I have. (The full-length SOFTBALL IS LIFE is another, so is the one-act POWDER PUFF, about football, along with several baseball-themed pieces that run about five minutes or less.)
THE RING
Sixty years after a close call in a state championship girls basketball game, the star of the losing team still can’t reconcile herself to losing — so she breaks into the home of the star player on the winning team, hoping to steal her championship ring. A poignant story about regrets and sportsmanship. Cast: Two senior females.
A five-minute version of this script is being performed later this month at the Newburgh Free Academy in Newburgh, New York. Here’s some background on the origin of both scripts.
Last year, I had two scripts take first place in audience votes at festivals. FOLLOW THE MONEY: A MODERN FAIRY TALE took the prize at the New Voice Play Festival in Charles Town, West Virginia while A WOMAN’S WORD VERSUS A MACHINE won an audience vote at the Subversive Theatre in Buffalo, New York.
Scripts to be performed in New York and Scotland
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized on May 19, 2014
I have good news to report:
* My one-minute play IT’S THE COW’S FAULT is among those included in this year’s “Gone in 60 Seconds Festival” of one-minute plays, to be produced June 13-15 in New York City. I’ve been thrilled to be part of this festival in the past and it’s great to be back for another year. Here are photos and video from last year’s entry, FISHING FOR MEN.Out of that, the festival producers created this short film version for a different competition. Also, last year I had three scripts in the festival’s UK version. Here are rehearsal photos from THIS IS THE CAPTAIN SPEAKING.
* Meanwhile, my 10-minute play SOMETIMES ELEPHANTS DIE STANDING UP will have be performed May 23 in Scotland by the Produced Moon company. (I’m a little uncertain whether it’s a staged reading or a full production; pretty sure it’s a staged reading. And I’m not sure whether it’s in Edinburgh or Glasgow; the company produces in both cities.) This will be my first performance of any sort in Scotland.
Here are the synopses:
IT’S THE COW’S FAULT
Three chickens and a cow watch a chicken cross the road. Bad things happen. Cast: Four, non-gender. Running time: One minute.
SOMETIMES ELEPHANTS DIE STANDING UP
Two lowly circus workers try to figure out what to do with an elephant dies. An absurdist look at how the economy works. Cast: Two males. Running time: Ten minutes.
Photos from “Chef Pierre Does Not Do Simple” in Newburgh, N.Y.
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in Photos, Productions, Uncategorized on May 8, 2014
Cabot Parsons as Chef Pierre.
The Newburgh Free Academy in Newburgh, N.Y. has run an annual festival where solicits scripts worldwide, the students pick the ones they want and then produce them. Alas, the school board there has seen fit to cut the program. The final festival is coming up later in May and will include my script “The Ring.” In the meantime, director Terry Sandler, who is presumably packing everything up, came across these photos from the 2009 production of my script “Chef Pierre Does Not Do Simple.”
Here’s the synopsis:
CHEF PIERRE DOES NOT DO SIMPLE
A television producer explains to a TV chef that he need to simplify some of his language because many younger viewers do not understand them. He reacts badly and winds up creating a mess with broken eggs and flour. Cast: Four — One male, three non-gender. Running time: Ten minutes.
Terry writes:”The gentleman playing Chef, Cabot Parsons, made a huge mess; eggs went flying, milk spilled everywhere, and tons of flour. There are still remaining stains on the curtains and ceiling from that performance. But it was bloody hilarious.”
Thanks, Terry, for finding and sharing the photos. Here are some more: Read the rest of this entry »
“The Ring” to be produced in Wisconsin in May
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized on April 22, 2014
My one-act “The Ring” is one of three one-acts that will be produced May 17 by The Haylofters in Burlington, Wisconsin in the troupe’s annual one-act competition.
The other two are “My Date With The Pope” by Ron Frankel and “a Serious Person” by John Doble.
I’m always excited to have a script selected but especially thrilled by this one, which is one I’ve wanted to see produced for quite some time. Here’s the synopsis:
THE RING
Sixty years after a close call in a state championship girls basketball game, the star of the losing team still can’t reconcile herself to losing — so she breaks into the home of the star player on the winning team, hoping to steal her championship ring. A poignant story about regrets and sportsmanship. Cast: Two senior females.
I wrote this a few years ago after watching a state championship girls basketball game. One team (the winning team, as it turns out) featured a much-acclaimed star who was destined for college ball. She was guarded throughout the game by a player who was not so heralded and, if she went on to play in college, I never heard about it. For purposes of my script, I envisioned the star and the other play in their retirement. It’s a sad little script, with a smile at the end.
I also have a five-minute version of this script — the genesis of the one-act. That five-minute script is also being performed in May, at the Newburgh Free Academy in Newburgh, New York. Details on that here.
“The Ring” (in either version) is unpublished, so, like all my unpublished work, is available royalty free. Details on how and why here. Here’s a full list of my scripts.
“The Ring” is also part of what has become a small collection of sports plays for women and girls. None have sports action, though all use sports as a backdrop or a motif. I have the full-length script “Softball Is Life” — which had a staged reading in January 2014 — plus the one-act “Powderpuff” and several five-minute scripts, including “The Recruiter,” which is play of my full-length baseball play, “The Old Ballgame.”
“God and the Devil Meet for a Business Lunch” by the Lake Players
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Photos, Productions on March 31, 2014
Blake Lipscomb as the devil and Mary Anne Leslie as God. Photo by Heather Yvonne Brush. Note the Sopranos hat.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I have a series of short pieces involving God and the Devil, which always end the same way, with the angelic Almighty getting the better of the harried Prince of Darkness. The Lake Players, at Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia, included the 10-minute “God and the Devil Meet for a Business Lunch” as part of their reading series on March 28.
Here are some photos from the evening, or you find the entire set here.
A full house! The show was in the social hall of Resurrection Catholic Church in Moneta, Virginia.
The devil (Blake Lipscomb) shows up at an out-of-the-way diner, hoping to make a business proposition to the Almighty. Marlene Truesdell is the sassy waitress.
Guess what’s on the menu. Loaves and fishes.
Want to see more?
* Here’s video of a group in Sacramento, California doing the same piece in 2005.
* Here’s audio from when Falcon Radio Theatre in Seattle did the script in 2013.
* Video: “God and the Devil Settle a Contract Dispute”
* Video: “God and the Devil Debate The Issues”
“Revenge Is Sweet . . . ” to be produced at British festival this summer
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized on March 13, 2014
Just got the word that my one-act “Revenge Is Sweet With a Slight Aftertaste of Irony” will be one of four one-acts produced this summer at a festival in Great Britain. Specifically, by the Congleton Players in Congleton, England in July.
More than 200 scripts were entered.
Here’s the synopsis:
REVENGE IS SWEET WITH A SLIGHT AFTERTASTE OF IRONY
A famous food critic visits a restaurant. The manager wants desperately to please him; the chef wants revenge. Dark comedy and slapstick ensues. Cast: Six — four male, two female. Running time: Fifteen minutes.
“The Ring” to be produced in new works festival in New York
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized on March 5, 2014
A few years ago, I attended the state high school basketball championships — a series of games all day long in various size classifications. I was particularly struck by one of the girls’ games, which pitted a team with a star player destined for college hoops against a team with unheralded players. Out of that came “The Ring” — a look into the future in which those two players meet again.
There’s a five-minute version (set in a nursing home) and a 20-25 minute version (in which the unheralded player breaks into the star’s home to steal the ring she felt she deserved.)
I’m thrilled to report today that the five-minute version has been accepted into the 3rd annual NFA New Works Festival at the Newburgh Free Academy in Newburgh, New York. I’m also excited to hear one of my works is being produced, but this is especially gratifying because in this case it was the students themselves who picked this script to be produced. Mine was one of 14 pieces picked for production out of 100 submitted.
The festival will be May 30.
Lake Players to produce one of my ten-minute plays March 28
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized on February 28, 2014
The Lake Players — at Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia — will include my script “God and the Devil Meet for a Business Lunch” in a night of ten-minute shows on March 28.
The director sends this word: “We had our first read thru on Monday and it got big laughs all around.”
GOD AND THE DEVIL MEET FOR A BUSINESS LUNCH
God and the devil meet in an out-of-the-way lunch spot to discuss a business proposition: The devil thinks the Almighty should reimburse him for punishing the wicked. Comes in two versions, one 5 minutes, one 10 minutes. Cast: Three — 2 males, 1 female. Running time: Five minutes or ten minutes.
Here’s the audio from when Falcon Radio Theatre in Seattle produced this as a radio play in 2013, and video from when a troupe in Sacramento produced it in 2005.
Photos from “Sweets to the Sweet” in suburban Chicago
Posted by Dwayne Yancey 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 »
