The ESP/Realm for New Works program returns for a
fourth season of presenting new works in a reader's theater format to aid in the script development process. All audience members are encouraged to participate in a post reading discussion of the play's strengths and weaknesses during a moderated question and answer session with the playwright.
The third reading this season will be an evening of one-acts.
Broken Matches by Garland Standrod and
The Very Last Word by Laura Kennedy
About the plays:
BROKEN MATCHES by Garland Standrod
This humorous one-act gives us civilized and sophisticated Rudolph and
Nanette who find their vacation plans disarranged by Nanette's ill timed
passion for an orchestra conductor.
THE VERY LAST WORD by Laura Miller Kennedy
This short one act explores Claire's confusion at the sudden end of her
relationship with Michael.
About the playwrights:
Garland Standrod : A full time playwright, Garland grew up in Arkansas.
He attended Tulane University (where he saw his first play).and Leeds
University (Sadler Hall) where he attended G. Wilson Knight's lectures on
drama. Garland served on a Destroyer in the U.S. Navy and was in the Peace
Corps in Katmandu, Nepal. His play The Waiting Room won a Source Theatre
Festival Award for best new play and won the Village Gate play festival
award for best play. His play Speed of Light in Memphis won the Northern
Virginia Theater Alliance one-act play festival award for best new play.
Garland belongs to several playwrights groups including The Writer's
Realm, Mixed Nuts, and Playwrights Anonymous.
Laura Miller Kennedy: Accompanied her husband overseas when he served
in the State department. Later she turned to painting, and had several
exhibitions of her work in the USA and Europe. Since 1988, Laura has
concentrated on play writing. Her play The Makan Incident received the
1998 Writer's Digest Award and excerpts from The Lady and the Gardener are
included in an anthology entitled The Best Stage Scenes 1998. She was the
Playwright in Residence at the Ensemble Studio Theatre Institute's summer
quarters in Tannersville, New York in 1990. She is a member of the
Writer's Realm playwrights group and the Dramatists Guild.
About The ESP/Realm for New Works:
Beginning in late 1997, the Elden Street Players began a series of staged readings
working in cooperation with the Writer's Realm of Northern Virginia. Elden Street is
committed to the development of all aspects of theatre, including the foundation of every
play -- the script. Spearheaded by Emme Fallen and Sally Cusenza, the program was
given a formal calendar and format during the 1998-1999 Season. On the "final
dark Tuesday" of each main stage show during the season, audiences were invited to
attend staged readings of works in development, as well as provide feedback after the
performance directly to the playwright. It has quickly become a very popular evening
of "theatre in progress." As an essential final step in any play, it is
important for a playwright to hear the honest reaction of an audience to his or her work.
Please come and be a part of the development process. If you would like to be
involved in the program either as a writer, director, performer or in the administration
and promotion of the program, please leave a message for Emme Fallen on the Elden Street
reservation system (703) 481-5930 or join our Mailing Lists
to receive notices of upcoming productions.
The ESP/Realm for New Works program is partially supported by a grant
from the Virginia Commission for the Arts.
