The Historic Elitch Gardens Theatre has announced the cast for the upcoming staged reading of my play “Fifteen Men In A Smoke-Filled Room.” The play will be read at 6pm on August 22, 2015 at the Historic Elitch Gardens Theatre.

The cast is as follows:

• Warren G. Harding — T. David Rutherford
• Florence Kling Harding — Alex Ryer
• Nan Britton — Maggie Sczekan
• Harry M. Daugherty — Mark Rubald
• Ensemble Man — Gregory Price

A special thanks to the Dramatists Play Service, who are helping to sponsor the event!

You can read the full announcement here!

Tickets for my play “Fifteen Men In A Smoke-Filled Room” have gone on sale for the August 22 staged reading at the Historic Elitch Gardens Theatre!

• Tickets for one evening are $15 each
• Tickets for all three nights are $40 each

You can find directions to the theater here!

An article came out today in a local Denver newspaper about the New Works Festival sponsored by the Historic Elitch Gardens Theatre. The New Works Festival will mark the return of live theater to the beautiful building that has housed so much theatrical history.

The following six plays will be read during the festival:

• “The Consul, The Tramp and America’s Sweetheart” by John Morogiello; directed by Jennifer McCray Rincon
• “The Mess of Us” by Moss Kaplan and Greg Ungar; directed by Kate Marie Folkins
• “A Good Indian” by Steven Cole Hughes; directed by Pat Payne
• “In the Closet” by Siegmund Fuchs; directed by Robert Brown
• “Fifteen Men in a Smoke Filled Room” by Colin Speer Crowley; directed by Bev Newcomb-Madden
• “Lady” by Tim Nevits; directed by Robert Michael Sanders

Bev Newcomb-Madden will direct my play; she is a veteran director in Colorado who has directed the most plays of any other woman in Colorado history.

You can check out the remainder of the article here!

I learned today that my play “Fifteen Men In A Smoke-Filled Room” is one of six winners of a new play contest sponsored by the Historic Elitch Gardens Theatre.

The New Works Festival is the first of its kind sponsored by the Historical Elitch Gardens Theatre and represents the premiere venture of the organization after its 2015 re-launch.

The Historic Elitch Gardens Theatre is nestled in Denver, Colorado and was built in 1890. “The theatre has been described as “one of the cradles of American drama.” The stage has hosted such stars as Grace Kelly, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., Cybil Shepard, Vincent Price, and many more. The theatre was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, and locally landmarked by the City of Denver in 1995.”

Since 1990, the Historic Elitch Gardens Theatre has been closed down for a sustained period of renovations, assisted by the Office of Economic Development in Denver and a grant of $425,000. You can see a great story about the theater on local Denver TV here! Elitch Gardens trumpets the New Works Festival as “marking the return of the Elitch Gardens Theatre as a vital component of Denver’s cultural landscape.”

The New Works Festival involved the submission of some 90 theatrical works from playwrights around the United States. The plays were then judged by an esteemed panel of experts, including many local and national theatrical professionals, such as author Christina Crawford, Broadway actress Billie McBride, casting and literary agents, directors, and Elitch Theatre alumni.

The festival will take place from August 20-August 22, 2015, with my play being read at 6pm on Saturday, August 22.

I learned today that my play “Fifteen Men In A Smoke-Filled Room” is a semi-finalist in a new play contest sponsored by Silverthorne Theater Company. The theater received 425 submissions and my play was one of the top 40 chosen by the play-reading committee. The readers “found the characters and dialogue (of the play) compelling.”

I am grateful to Silverthorne for their consideration and wish them the best of luck with the rest of their season!

I attended the second and final performance of “Fifteen Men In A Smoke-Filled Room” today – another great job! The cast was even better than it was last night and the audience was very responsive. I even got the opportunity to meet two Math and English teachers of mine from my days at Cape Cod Academy in Osterville, MA!!

I would especially like to thank the following people:

• Toby Wilson – Artistic Director of Eventide Arts – for arranging the reading and guiding me through the process
• Shannon Goheen – President of Eventide Arts – for writing the press release and hosting the event
• Ellis Baker – former Artistic Director of Eventide Arts – for his play suggestions and kind words
• John Williams – Director of the play – for so expertly getting together the cast and rehearsing them to perfection
• David Kaplan – President of the Kaplan Foundation – for sponsoring wonderful artistic opportunities for Cape playwrights

To all of you, a great, big

I was very fortunate to attend the first of two performances of my play “Fifteen Men In A Smoke-Filled Room” at Dennis Union Church.

I have a few impressions…

First, the Gertrude Lawrence Stage at Dennis Union Church Fellowship Hall is beautiful. It seats about 100 people and has a near-perfect level of theatricality and intimacy. I don’t think my play could have been performed in a better location or in a better environment.

Second, I was very impressed by the versatility and skill of the actors onstage. I was especially impressed by the actor playing Warren G. Harding (an associate of Harwich Junior Theater). Harding is a difficult character to play. It’s easy to make him into a whiny, boring, if well-meaning, individual, but not in this performance.

Above all, I look forward to seeing the show again tomorrow! It’s rare to get a chance to see two staged readings of a work. Most playwriting contests only result in a single reading. A second reading means I have a second chance to review the work and take it in after the initial experience. The end result is a much more knowledge-rich experience.

I’ll be back again tomorrow!