Join us for Scripts from Scratch, four plays in two days! Audiences have the unique opportunity to hear a fresh new script, never before produced and partake in its evolution! After the script is read by performers to the audience, a special Questions and Answers session with the playwright will be moderated. Audiences are invited to share their thoughts and feedback about the new work to the playwright.
PERFORMANCE DATES AND TIMES WILL BE:
Friday, May 14, 2021 at 3:00pm & 7:00pm
Saturday, May 15, 2021 at 3:00pm & 7:00pm
Tickets are currently on sale to participate as an audience member to any or all performances. You may buy tickets online here, by phone 352-753-3229, or by visiting any of The Villages Box Offices.
Additional Questions please email info@thesharonstudio.com
On the late night hours on the evening before John Brown's execution on December 1st, 1859, John Wilkes Booth has bribed his way into the cell to confront the man whose beliefs he despises but whose actions he admires. Unsure whether he should kill Brown or whether the old man has some secret of mastering a "great act," Booth and Brown wage ideological fencing matches covering topics as wide as the frivolous art of theatre to the justification for terrorism. By the night's end the two enemies discover a common bond and Booth discovers the inspiration he came seeking for his own "great act." The historical record of the play is thus: we know that Brown was the first American citizen to be given the contemporaneous title of "terrorist" for his murder of proslavery settlers in Pottawatomie in Bleeding Kansas and his plot to break the back of slavery in Virginia with his terrorist assault at Harper's Ferry. We know that Booth at the start of his professional acting career, walked out of a professional production of the play The Toodles to enlist in the Richmond Virginia Greys, who were dispatched to Charles Town, Virginia for the express purpose of guarding Brown and his co-conspirators and to guard the gallows on the day of the execution. Booth himself was clear that he was going to see Brown a man whose beliefs he despised but whom Booth called: "a brave old man." He also said: "John Brown was a man inspired, the grandest character of the century." Booth stood next to the gallows in military formation and had a "front row seat" for Brown's "great act." Booth's "great act" was to surpass Brown and become America's first presidential assassin. Current research on the anniversary of the Civil War indicates that neither man was the lunatic or crazed zealot that previous histories have supposed. Both men planned their acts for years and were reported to be calm, cool, courageous, and focused on those acts: Brown convinced that God had appointed him to be the catalyst to end slavery, Booth motived by patriotism for his country sought to change the history of his country by cutting off the head of the Union administration. That is the historical record. Although Brown had hundreds of visitors during his captivity, there is no record that Booth was one of them. The discussion that might have taken place between these two early terrorists is gleaned from their biographies, letters, and diaries.
BOBBIE BELL (playwright) works in Central Florida as a playwright, composer, director, and actor. He has twice won the Florida Playwrights' Competition for Pascua de Flores and Of: A Play of Artemis. His Ekpyrosis Loop won at the Playwright Festival in Miami. His throatingale was anthologized in Orlando Group and Friends. For the Studio Theatre he directed Frankie and Johnny at the Claire de Lune, did the translation/adaptation of Tartuffe, did the translation/adaptation of Lysistrata where he also played the Mayor, and performed Alfred Doolittle for Pygmalion. His most recent work elsewhere was composing three hours of original music for Mad Cow Theatre's The Women of Pompeii project. He has had over thirty other plays, musicals, and one acts produced around the country as well as composing incidental music for as many productions. Bobbie's poetry has been published in several journals including Revelry, in which he won the Editor's Choice award. In 2018 Bobbie received the Louise J. Witzenburg Legacy Award from the Gwendolyn Brooks Writers Association of Florida.
The Specimen
by Brandon Cahela
Friday May 14, 2021; 7:00pm
Veteran ranch owner, Louis Desmond, halts all construction on his property after a juvenile T-Rex skeleton is discovered. To figure out the best course of action for dealing with the find, Desmond invites a paleontologist, and an auction curator to his ranch. Desmond will then decide whether to preserve the prehistoric specimen, or sell it to the highest bidder. This play explores the integrity of science versus capitalism, and the absurd lengths people will go to protect their own interests.
Brandon Cahela grew up in Tampa, FL. In 2009, he graduated from Florida State University, where he majored in creative writing. His first play Excursions was published and performed in 2013 at Theatre Odyssey in Sarasota, FL. Brandon's plays Shower and Earth Day premiered in 2016 at The Santa Monica Theatre. In 2017 his plays Lookout and Toxic also premiered at The Santa Monica Theatre. In 2020 several of Brandon's monologues were performed virtually as a part of Theatre Is The Cure. In March of 2021, Brandon's play Elemental was selected and performed for the Pick Of The Vine Festival presented by The Little Fish Theatre. In December of 2021 Brandon's play Silver And Gold is slated to be performed by Kris P. Productions in Hong Kong.
Still Life with Pairs
by Kay Esposito
Saturday May 15, 2021; 3:00pm
Marriage is a work of art. But some spouses might wonder what life would be like without their better half, would it be "for better or worse"?
Peach and Deke have been married a long time and resentment is building up. With the interference of family and friends, these two start to wonder if " 'til death do us part" is worth speeding up. This funny play intertwines art, deception, and a little murder mystery to paint the perfect picture.
As a high school English teacher, Kay spent 25 years trying to instill into hundreds of students a love for the intricacies and efficacies of language. She was 12 when she first fell in love with theatre, and has acted, sung, directed, and worked backstage ever since, working with professional, student, and community theater groups in the Milwaukee area and in Southern Florida. In 2008, she and her husband Dan (favorite director and on- and off-stage partner) moved to The Villages, where they founded the Lake Miona Theatre Group. Among Kay's favorite roles: Lizzy in The Rainmaker, Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, Edna in Prisoner of Second Avenue, and Emily Dickinson in the one-woman show, The Belle of Amherst. Greatly inspired by Dickinson's poetry, Kay spends hours penning as yet unpublished poems, confident that she, too, "dwell[s] in possibility."
And the Glory
by John J. Kelly
Saturday May 15, 2021; 7:00pm
Set in Dublin 1742 George Frideric Handel is producing his newly composed masterpiece, Messiah. With the help of a few esteemed friends he overcomes the obstacles from the church and community to let his new work see the spotlight it deserves.
JOHN J. KELLY is an Emeritus Professor of Theatre (Elmira College.) After well over 250 professional and educational theatre productions as an actor or director, he began work as a playwright only a few years ago. In that time, his plays have been published, anthologized, and performed in high schools, colleges, and professional theatres across the country (including New York, Chicago, and Washington) and internationally (the UK, Canada, Germany.) John is a member of the Dramatists' Guild.
