What a great photo – me sitting with the cast of “Fifteen Men in a Smoke-Filled Room” at Elite Theatre Company!
The photo was taken after the matinee performance on Sunday, September 2 (opening weekend)!
From left to right: Scott Blanchard, Jill Dolan, me, Reign Lewis, Eric McGowan, Sean Love Mason (back left), Bill Walthall (back middle), and director Angela DeCicco (back right)
“Fifteen Men in a Smoke-Filled Room” opens tomorrow at Elite Theatre Company… check it out!
Elite Theatre Company
2731 Victoria Avenue
Oxnard, CA 93021
Box Office (805) 483-5118
“This is a world premiere play, touching and poignant, written by playwright-lyricist Colin Speer Crowley. The play takes place in Chicago – June, 1920 – when the Republican National Convention is in full swing. Warren G. Harding, senator from Ohio, is overwhelmed by the prospect of becoming the nominee of the Republican Party for president. Hounded by an ambitious campaign manager, a paralyzing superstitious wife, a star struck young mistress, and the frightening pull of inevitability, Harding seems destined to be president – or is he? At its core, Fifteen Men in a Smoke-Filled Room is a thematic play, exploring the extent to which fate controls our lives. Is there a higher power out there that determines our destinies, or are those life events we deem “fateful” merely the aggregate result of the deficiencies and idiosyncrasies of flawed human beings? Produced by special arrangement with the author, the play runs at the Elite Theatre Company from August 31 through September 30, 2018.”
See this announcement in the local VC Star!
In just a few days, my drama “Fifteen Men in a Smoke-Filled Room” opens at Elite Theatre Company in Oxnard, CA!
Below are some photos from the last remaining dress rehearsals of the show, which runs August 31-September 30.
Featured above: Scott Blanchard as Warren G. Harding, Jill Dolan as Florence Kling Harding, Bill Walthall as Harry M. Daugherty, and Sean Mason as George Harvey
In just a little over a week, I’ll be in Oxnard, Caliofrnia attending the opening night of my tragedy “Fifteen Men in a Smoke-Filled Room” at Elite Theatre Company.
The play is being directed by the wonderful Angela DeCicco, a veteran actress and director, and produced by L. J. Stevens, the Artistic Director of Elite Theatre Company.
The cast is as follows:
Very much looking forward to this world premiere!
Elite Theatre Company of Oxnard, CA has put tickets for my world premiere drama “Fifteen Men in a Smoke-Filled Room” on-sale!
…and rehearsals have officially begun!
You can buy tickets here!
Elite Theatre Company has scheduled auditions for my historical drama “Fifteen Men in a Smoke-Filled Room” for July 23rd and July 24th!
There are some great roles in this play – very individual, very strong – for more mature actors and one younger actress.
The full audition notice – as well as script excerpts – can be found here!
As I have mentioned, my play “Fifteen Men in a Smoke-Filled Room” is being produced this August by Elite Theatre Company of Oxnard, CA. The play runs from August 30-September 31 and will be the world premiere production of the piece after many, many years of staged readings and festival wins (over 10!).
In that regard, the hosts of a new Ventura County theatre podcast recently published their first episode on Soundcloud. In that episode, they praised Elite Theatre and also provided a summary review of the 2018 seasons of eight Ventura theaters, including announcing all the Main Stage shows at Elite.
You can listen to the podcast below:
With great pleasure, I witnessed my play “Fifteen Men in a Smoke-Filled Room” being presented by the Firehouse Center for the Arts in Newburyport, Massachusetts.
“Fifteen Men” won the Pestalozzi Prize:
“The Pestalozzi Prize … is awarded in honor of the now-dissolved, non-profit Pestalozzi Foundation set up by Herman C. Honegger after World War II to create educational opportunities for underprivileged children whose education was disrupted by the conflict in Europe. Later, the children and grandchildren of Mr. Honegger continued to fund children’s education and art projects. The New Works Festval prize is a gift from the Honegger family.”
I have to take my hat off to the wonderful direction of Ellen Dempsey and her great cast of actors and actresses: Charles Van Eman (Warren G. Harding), June Kfoury (Florence Kling Harding), Timothy Kenslea (Harry M. Daugherty), Ashley Risteen (Nan Britton), and Doug Brendel (George Harvey). Charles and Ashley were especially wonderful, showing me the dramatic potential of scenes that have been underperformed in prior readings.
After the show, I engaged in a talkback with the audience, moderated by festival stalwart and author Anne Easter Smith.
Here we are, in all our glory:
From left-to-right: Anne Easter Smith, yours truly, Ellen Dempsey, Charles Van Eman, Ashley Risteen
Once again, thanks to Firehouse Center for the Arts for a job well done – a truly professional organization!
I came across a great article today about Firehouse’s new works festival that highlights my play “Fifteen Men in a Smoke-Filled Room.”
“Ellen Dempsey is the director of the 2018 full-length play “Fifteen Men In A Smoke-Filled Room” written by Colin Spear-Crowley of Westport, CT.
“The play is about Warren G. Harding and is set in 1920 at the Republican Convention,” Dempsey said. “It’s very much based on fact. The author calls it a tragedy and I think that holds true. In a lot of ways nothing has changed in the last 100 years.
“There was a lot of political maneuvering and the intrigue of hiding a political mistress. Did people really know and hide it, or did they not know? Mrs. Harding was a believer in psychics and a psychic told her that her husband would be elected and would die in office, and he did.”
Playwright Spear-Crowley is “a very good writer,” Easter Smith said, “and his stage direction is almost as good as his dialogue. He writes, ‘Don’t underestimate Mrs. Harding. She’s a tank in a bonnet.’”
“The play is political,” Dempsey said, “but it’s a human drama.””
Looking forward to the show tonight!
Tomorrow, I will be attending the opening night of the Firehouse Center for the Arts new play festival where my play “Fifteen Men in a Smoke-Filled Room” will be given a staged reading.
A wonderful article was published today in the Newburyport News about the festival, which neatly sums it up and helps to illustrate the collaborative effort it represents.
“Serving up New Works – Fresh plays take the stage for annual festival at Firehouse”
Some excerpts:
“Welcome to New Works, the world of the unexpected, where newness and spontaneity forge communal bonds among writers, directors, players, crews and audiences.
Over four days this weekend and next, 40 actors will perform 17 jury-selected works by New England playwrights at Newburyport’s Firehouse Center for the Arts.
The original plays, selected from around 200 entries, include a full-length on Friday, Jan. 19; six 10-minute shorts on Saturday, Jan. 20; two one-acts on Friday, Jan. 26; and eight shorts on Saturday, Jan. 27.
The article includes this photo from my play:
From left to right Doug Brendel, Charlie Van Eman, and Ashley Risteen