“Softball Is Life” has third staged reading
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized on July 13, 2016
Me, with the cast.
My script SOFTBALL IS LIFE had its third staged reading on July 11, 2016 — this time by Endstation Theatre in Lynchburg, Virginia. It went fantastically.
SOFTBALL IS LIFE
A sports play for women that isn’t really about sports. A former high school softball star sits in prison, estranged from her 14-year-old daughter, who has inherited the woman’s talent for pitching but doesn’t realize it. While the mom tries to contact her daughter, the girl spends her time trying to avoid a dangerous situation in the home where she’s living. Cast: Eight — Four females (one to play a teenage girl), three males, one non-gender.
* Staged reading at Showtimers, Roanoke, Virginia, Jan. 4, 2014.
* Staged reading at Sundog Theatre, New York, NY, October 2015.
* Staged reading at Endstation Theatre, Lynchburg, Virginia, July 11, 2016.
Here are some photos:
Photos from “The Zookeeper’s Arm” in 24-hour play project
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Photos, Productions, Uncategorized on July 13, 2016
The cast of THE ZOOKEEPER’S ARM. Photo by Susan K.
For the fifth time in ten years, I was one of the writers to take part in OVERNIGHT SENSATIONS, the 24-hour play project put on by Mill Mountain Theatre and Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.
Everyone gathers on Friday night. The playwrights draw out of a hat the name of their director — I drew Maura Campbell. She drew the cast. Then I drew the genre (crime drama), the setting (the zoo) and the theme (“from the jaws of hell, I stab at thee”). Then the writers are whisked off to the Hollins library to write. By 8 a.m. Saturday, we’re expected to have a 10-minute script. The morning is spent going over revisions with the director, a production meeting — then the cast shows up for rehearsal at noon. At 8 p.m., the curtain goes up.
Here are some photos from this year’s festivities:
Photos from “The Beautiful Ogre and Other Fairy Tales” in Maryland
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Photos, Productions, Uncategorized on July 7, 2016
Here are some photos from a rehearsal of my 10-minute play THE BEAUTIFUL OGRE AND OTHER FAIRY TALES, being produced over three weekends in June and July at the Garfield Center in Chestertown, Maryland.
A damsel, state of distress uncertain, with an ogre.
More photos below.
Photos from staged reading of “The Armadillo Queen”
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Photos, Productions, Uncategorized on June 28, 2016
Front row: Pamela Nowell (Cee Cee), Katerina Yancey (Dee Dee), Cheryl Carter (Gypsy Jane), and director John Holt. Back row: Kristen Williams Leclerc (Sara), Dylan Grey (Charlie), Melissa Kennedy (Miss Battleaxe), Jeff Krantz (Coach Ferguson). Photo by Rain Yancey Hupman.
Renaissance Theatre in Lynchburg, Virginia put on a staged reading of THE ARMADILLO QUEEN on June 25, and it was, well, spectacular.
Besides a fantastic cast, we had a full house. Every available seat was taken, and one latecomer had to stand. OK, admission was free, but still . . .
Also got great feedback from the audience:
“It’s funny.”
— Joe S.
“Super funny.”
— Alicia P.
“Twas fun – well done and well written. I’m so glad I got to see it!”
— Jennifer P.
And from the director himself: “Congrats again, Dwayne. Beautiful script and story.”
You can find the full gallery of photos here. Below are some highlights:
“The Armadillo Queen” to have staged reading in Virginia
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized on June 22, 2016
The show poster.
Renaissance Theatre in Lynchburg is holding a staged reading of my full-length script THE ARMADILLO QUEEN on June 25 as a fund-raiser. Admission is free but there’s a cash bar and concessions for sale.
THE ARMADILLO QUEEN
A high school girl from the city is forced to move to rural Texas for her senior year. She hopes to keep her head down and tough it out; instead, she’s drafted to be the school mascot — the Armadillo Queen — for a team that’s never won a game and suffers under a curse that if it doesn’t win this year, the town will dry up and blow away. Comedy ensues. Cast: Seven — five females (one teen, four adults), two males (one teen, one adult.)
“The Tale of the Whale” to be produced in Virginia
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized on June 21, 2016
My one-act THE TALE OF THE WHALE will be produced August 6 by Historic North Theatre in Danville, Virginia as the product of the theatre’s summer camp.
This will be the first production of this script. This also makes for a trifecta: That weekend, I will have three different scripts being produced in three different states — THE TALE OF THE WHALE in Virginia, THE BEAUTIFUL OGRE AND OTHER FAIRY TALES in Maryland and DEATH BY POINSETTIA in Rhode Island.
THE TALE OF THE WHALE
A whale washes up on the beach. The town’s mayor is determined to remove it before the town’s annual festival begins. Complications, and comedy, ensue. Very loosely based on the true story where an Oregon town tried to blow up a beached whale in the 1970s, with disastrous results. Think blubber raining down from the skies. Cast: 9 — 4 male, 3 female, 1 non-gender adult, 1 non-gender kid. With doubling, you could reduce it to a cast of 8 – 4 male, 3 female, 1 non-gender kid.
So far in 2016:
Photos from “The Bigfoot Sighting” in New York
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Photos, Productions, Uncategorized on June 16, 2016
The professor is interviewed by a TV reporter.
Uh-oh!
Another view. The creature in black is likely the Loch Ness monster.
My one-act script THE BIGFOOT SIGHTING was produced in New York June 9-11 as part of the Gone in 60 Seconds Festival of one-minute plays.
A professor is interviewed by a television reporter. While the prof debunks cryptozoology, a parade of mythical species parade behind him.
That’s Jay Nickerson as the professor. Photos courtesy of Rose Bonczek.
“Death by Poinsettia” to be produced in Rhode Island in August
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized on June 8, 2016
My quirky little Christmas one-act DEATH BY POINSETTIA will be produced in August by Artists’ Exchange in Cranston, Rhode Island.
Show dates are August 5-13; full details here.
This will be the second production of this script; the first was in December at Studio C in Hollywood, California.
It’s my first production in the great state of Rhode Island.
So far in 2016:
“The Beautiful Ogre and Other Fairy Tales” gets a second production in Maryland
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized on June 6, 2016
My 10-minute script THE BEAUTIFUL OGRE AND OTHER FAIRY TALES will be produced twice this summer — at two different theatres in Maryland.
Earlier, it had been accepted by Open Space Arts in Reisterstown, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore suburbs, for a production August.
Now I get word its been accepted into the Short Attention Span Theatre 2016 event at The Garfield Center for the Arts in Chestertown, Maryland. Those shows will be June 24-26, July 1-3, and July 8-10 (Friday and Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 3pm).
These will be the seventh and eighth productions of that script.
THE BEAUTIFUL OGRE AND OTHER FAIRY TALES
A father reads his daughter a fairy tale as a bedtime story — which the characters begin to act out. The girl doesn’t like how the story is going — no strong female role models, for instance — so she changes it all around. This is the result. Cast: Five — three males, two females. Running time: Eight minutes.
* Produced by the Paw Paw Village Players, Paw Paw, Michigan, Feb. 15-16, 22-23, 2008.
* Produced by Youth Education on Stage Summer Shorts, Williston, North Dakota, June 24-26, 2008.
* Produced by Subversive Theatre, Buffalo, N.Y., various nights between May 2-17, 2009.
* Produced by Play’n’Well Players, Plainview, Michigan, last weekend of May 2009.
* Produced by Jeonju Players, Jeonju, South Korea, December 2014
* Produced as script-in-hand reading as radio play before a live audience, Hoosier Hometown Live, Mitchell, Indiana, Feb. 5, 2016.
* Scheduled to be produced by Garfield Center for the Arts, Chestertown, Maryland, June-July 2016.
* Scheduled to be produced by Open Space Arts, Reistertown, Maryland, August 2016.
Interestingly, three of my pieces were recommended by the play selection committee — which apparently submits a lit of accepted scripts for directors to choose from. Alas, THE PICTURE WINDOW and SOMEWHERE TONIGHT, THE WASHINGTON SENATORS LAST GAME PLAYS ON didn’t get picked, but at least they made the first cut.
So far in 2016:
“A Zombie Christmas” to have staged reading in Illinois
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized on June 2, 2016
My Christmas one-act A ZOMBIE CHRISTMAS has been selected for a staged reading at the Princeton Theatre Group New Works Festival to be held at the Grace Performing Arts Center in Princeton, Illinois during the weekend of July 23-24, 2016.
This will be the first reading of the script.
A ZOMBIE CHRISTMAS
A grandfather and grandmother dress up as a zombie and a vampire to try to connect their their teen-age granddaughter. Miscommunication ensues. Cast: Four – one senior male, one senior female, one adult female, one teen female. Running time: Fifteen minutes.
So far in 2016:
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