Photos: “The Fruitcake” in Orrsville, Ohio
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Photos, Productions, Uncategorized on September 21, 2015
A scene from THE FRUITCAKE.
My most frequently-produced script is THE FRUITCAKE, a Christmas one-one published through Brooklyn Publishers. It’s been produced 42 times so far and yet . . . I’ve never seen it. Nor have I been able to find photos from a production — until now.
The folks at Orrsville Community Theatre in Orrsville, Ohio — who were the 42nd production, in December 2014 — kindly provided these photos.
You can find the whole set here.
THE FRUITCAKE
An extended and quite dysfunctional family gathers for a Christmas season tradition — Aunt Hazel’s historically inedible fruitcake. But before she can bring it out, some of the relatives steal the thing and make a bet on whether they can destroy it. Chaos ensues. Characters include a goth-punk teen, a science nerd, a tough-talking ex-Peace Corps worker, a nearsighted aunt, and so forth. Cast: Nine — 2 male, 4 female, 3 non-gender.
If you’re curious, here’s the entire production history — so far! Read the rest of this entry »
“Death by Poinsettia” to be produced in Hollywood
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized on September 18, 2015
Got word today that my short Christmas one-act DEATH BY POINSETTIA will be produced in Hollywood by Studio C Artists this November and December.
It’s one of three one-acts in the theatre’s holiday show.
Performance dates are:
Friday, November 13th
Saturday, November 14th
Friday, November 20th
Saturday, November 21st
Friday, December 4th
Saturday, December 5th
Friday, December 11th
Saturday, December 12th
I seem to recall that Studio C’s call for submissions was looking for short holiday scripts that were cool, hip and could be done by 20-somethings. Mine fits!
DEATH BY POINSETTIA
A lonely woman tries to kill herself at Christmas by eating a poinsettia, convinced the plant is poisonous. It’s not, though. A male co-worker shows up and a touching scene ensues. Cast: Two – one male, one female.
“Softball Is Life” will have staged reading in New York in October
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized on September 18, 2015
My full-length script SOFTBALL IS LIFE will have a staged reading in New York on October 22 by Sundog Theatre.
The particulars:
DATE: Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015
TIME: 8 p.m.
LOCATION: Gallerie St. George, 11 Phelps Place, Staten Island
The reading had been scheduled for back in March but got delayed when Sundog had to find a new location for its readings.
Here are photos and more from the previous staged reading of the script, in January 2014 at Showtimers in Roanoke.
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.
Video: “The Black Market of Memories” in Chicago
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized, Video on September 16, 2015
Otherworld Theatre in Chicago produced my script THE BLACK MARKET OF MEMORIES as part of the Paragon festival of science fiction plays on August 22. Here’s the video.
It was one of two of my scripts in the show; the other was THE SANDSTORM.
THE BLACK MARKET OF MEMORIES
A young woman wakes up in a strange place — and discovers she’s had her memories stolen. Now that doctors have devised a way to transplant memories, there’s a lively market for memories — and a black market of stolen ones. The woman shares a recovery room with another woman, who specializes in “customizing” memories — doing things for rich donors that they’d never do themselves, but would like to remember doing. A dark, serious piece, which is carried primarily by the two women; the other characters appear only intermittently. Cast: Five — one male, two female, two non-gender. Running time: Twenty five minutes.
* Produced by End Times Productions, New York, N.Y., July 2011.
* Produced by Otherworld Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, August 2015.
Video: “The Sandstorm” in Chicago
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized, Video on September 16, 2015
Otherworld Theatre in Chicago produced my script THE SANDSTORM as part of the Paragon festival of science fiction plays on August 22. Here’s the video.
It was one of two of my scripts in the show; the other was THE BLACK MARKET OF MEMORIES.
THE SANDSTORM
A dark vision from the last days of Mars. A local official in charge of building canals instead diverts some of the money to build an underground library to store his civilization’s artifacts because he knows Mars is doomed. Cast: Two non-gender. Running time: Seven or eight minutes.
So far in 2015: Read the rest of this entry »
Final list of awards for “One Word Macbeth” in Australia
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Reviews on September 9, 2015
The awesome poster.
Got this email today from the producer of my show THE ONE-WORD MACBETH, which Pop Culture Theatre in Melbourne has produced in various festivals this past few months in the Victorian Drama League:
Dear Dwayne,
I thought that I would do an email to you to just give you a final summing up of how we went with your piece One Word Macbeth.
I know that Bruce has been keeping you in the loop, but just so you can see it all at once in terms of awards:
Foster One Act Play Festival:
Best Production
Kyenton One Act Play Festival:
Runner up best production
Best youth actress (Madeline Hardie)
Best youth ensemble
Best clarity and diction (Chelsea Hyde)
Mt Players One Act Play Festival:
Victorian Drama League Most Promising Performer (Laura Marmion)
Youth Encouragement Award (ensemble)
In addition to the awards above they were also nominated for Best Production at Mt Players, and the adjudicator wanted to nominate them at Kyenton for Best Production by the youth are not allowed to be considered for senior awards. (Yes we are still trying to work out how he awarded them runner up in the youth, but wanted to put them into the seniors!!)
I know that you have mentioned a couple of times about the number of the cast, so just for your own records here is how it can work with 5 performers:
Witch one, Lady Macbeth, Messenger for MacDuff – Chelsea Hyde
Witch two, Guard one, Macduff, Murderer one – Josie Hardie
Witch three, Duncan, Murderer two, Messenger for Macbeth – Alicia Henry
Macbeth – Madeline Hardie
Banquo, Guard two – Laura Marmion
The costumes for all but Macbeth were just one simple thing to show the character – Banquo for example had a tartan sash.
Macbeth was a full costume.
There was lots and lots of running for the cast!
We are filming the showcase performance and we will get you a copy of it, so you can see for yourself how we did it.
Thank you for allowing us to perform your work, thank you for taking the chance and allowing us to do it with not only youth but five of them. We had hoped to get one more performance of this production in competition but the festival declined the entry in favour of an adult one. The organizer of the festival has a history of refusing youth entries and even though the girls have nearly won against adults, she deemed once again that youth are not of a sufficient level of skill to be considered. (Even though OWM kicked the ass of their adult plays at every festival!!)
You work inspired the girls to learn Macbeth, to ask questions about Shakespeare and to suddenly bring the words of the Bard to life to them because it wasn’t just sitting in class and reading. It was a fantastic tool to teach them the importance of words and inflection, a very important lesson that they will now carry with them through their performing lives.
Yours faithfully
John Jennings
There’s one more performance of the show — October 17 at the Knox Community Theatre in Bayswater, Victoria.
* More awards for ONE WORD MACBETH in Australia
* ONE WORD MACBETH wins another award in Australia
* Photos from THE ONE WORD MACBETH in Australia
* THE ONE-WORD MACBETH to be produced in Australia
More awards for “One Word Macbeth” in Australia
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Reviews, Uncategorized on September 8, 2015
The awesome poster.
The Australian production of my script THE ONE-WORD MACBETH continues to rack up awards as it makes its way through the spring circuit (it’s spring to them) of the Victorian Drama League festivals.
Here’s what the folks with Pop Culture Theatre had to say about Kyneton’s 59th Festival of One Act Plays:
It’s always a pleasure travelling to Kyneton for their One Act Play festival, amidst the Spring weather and the plenitudes of daffodils everywhere. This year the festival returned to the beloved Bluestone Theatre, host to so many wonderful plays in the past, and 2015 was no exception. Thank you to everyone for such a lovely time!
Kyneton also saw the final festival performance of our youth performers in “One Word Macbeth”. And as a final parting shot, they earned themselves a nice batch of awards!
Clarity of Speech and Projection: Chelsea Hyde (“One Word Macbeth”)
Best Ensemble Work: “One Word Macbeth”
Best Actress: Madeline Hardie (“One Word Macbeth”)
Runner-Up Best Play: “One Word Macbeth”
There’s one more performance of the show — October 17 at the Knox Community Theatre in Bayswater, Victoria.
* ONE WORD MACBETH wins another award in Australia
* Photos from THE ONE WORD MACBETH in Australia
* THE ONE-WORD MACBETH to be produced in Australia
Two of my short scripts to be produced in Ontario in September
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized on August 11, 2015
The cast for this year’s festival.
I’m once again thrilled to learn that my work will be included in ASPHALT JUNGLE SHORTS, an annual walking-tour theatre festival in Kitchener, Ontario. I’ve been in it before, and while I’ve never gotten there to see it, the photos and descriptions sound like a blast. Patrons sign up for a walking tour and along the route, live theatre breaks out in various locations.
This year, I’ve got two pieces in the festival:
THREE TREES TALKING
Three trees contemplate the question: If they were human, what kind of human would be they? Cast: Three, non-gender. Running time: One minute.
This was previously produced in England as part of the Gone in 60 Seconds Festival of one-minute plays in 2013; more on that here.
THE WEAKEST FINGER
An adulterous couple meet in a restaurant, and the man points out to the woman that the weakest finger is the ring finger – all seductively, of course. Cast: Two — 1 male, 1 female. Running time: Five minutes.
The show dates are Sept. 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26th.
Here’s some of my previous work in Kitchener that will give you a feel for the event:
* Video of A NICE, RELAXING CUP OF TEA in 2009.
* Photos from REQUIEM FOR A BUZZARD in 2013.
* Photos from CAN I? IN 2014
This means this year I will have had my work produced in at least four countries — the U.S., Great Britain, Australia and now, Canada.
The poster for the 2015 festival.
So far in 2015: Read the rest of this entry »
“The One-Word Macbeth” wins another award in Australia
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Reviews, Uncategorized on August 11, 2015
One of the actresses with the award. The production was called “blood-curdingly amazing.”
Pop Culture Theatre of Melbourne won another award this weekend with a production of my script THE ONE-WORD MACBETH.
The production took “Most Outstanding Youth Production” in the South Gippsland One-Act Play Festival in Foster, Australia, one of a series of festivals through the Victorian Drama League that the group is entered in.
Next up: Kyneton’s Festival of One-Act Plays in Kyneton on Sept. 4-6 and a date TBA in October in Melbourne.
You can find photos from a previous production in Macedon here and more about the show in general here.
The production was called “blood-curdingly amazing.” One critic said: “Loved the play. A clever concept that’s difficult to do well, but they pulled it off.”
Photos from “The One Word Macbeth” in Australia
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Photos, Productions, Uncategorized on July 30, 2015
The Melbourne theatre company Pop Culture Theatre is producing my one-act THE ONE WORD MACBETH to enter in festivals around the state of Victoria over the coming months. The first production was July 25 in Macedon, Victoria.
The host theatre, Mount Players, tells me: “They were nominated for best production and best director. They won the youth encouragement award. Also, the girl who played Banquo won the VDL (Victorian Drama League) Most Promising Performer award. So it’s safe to say they did your work proud!”
The awesome poster.
Here’s how Pop Culture Theatre described it:
A cold weekend up in Macedon – cold, but fun! The Mount Players put on a great festival and were very welcoming to PCT for only our second outing down that way. All four of our plays went over well, as adjudicator Ray Hare was more than happy to tell all. “PCT strikes again!” he said, frequently, complementing us on our fine work, meeting the theatrical challenges of our scripts with nuanced performances and poignancy. All his words.
This weekend also saw our youth group hit the stage for the first time, with “One Word Macbeth”. And as you’ll see from the results, the kids sure came out swinging!
THE AWARDS
VDL Most Promising Performer Award: Laura Marmion (“One Word Macbeth” and “Birthin’ Baby”)
Youth Encouragement Award – Female: The Cast of “One Word Macbeth”
THE NOMINATIONS
Best Production: “One Word Macbeth” and “This Almost Joy”
Best Director: John Jennings (“One Word Macbeth”)
Best Female Lead: Imogen Martin (“Birthin’ Baby”)
Best Male Lead: Bruce Hardie (“This Almost Joy”)
Youth Encouragement Award: Laura Marmion (“Birthin’ Baby”)
The Adjudicator chose not to give Adjudication awards.
Congratulations to all winners and nominees, and to all for another great festival. Now we have a short break before heading down to Foster in August for the South Gippsland Festival! Stay tuned for details about dates!
And also this note to me:
We are very proud of our girls. The adjudicator noted that on your description you called it a play for 10, 12 or 14. You may wish to revise that as it is very much possible with just 5.
They smashed it. The adjudicator refused to split the Best Youth Actress Award and so gave it to them jointly. They were also nominated for Best Production. Not Best Youth Production, but in the overall category.
And the audience loved it. Festivals are very much a theatre crowd and so everyone knows what is going on which makes the ‘Tomorrow’ section so funny.
The witches.
A great close-up of Macbeth.
dwayneyancey 