Reading of David Clark’s Bananapocalypse last fall.
Photo-DCP
By Keith Waits
Entire contents copyright © 2014 by Keith Waits. All rights reserved
If you are a playwright working in Louisville, your best opportunity to see work produced might be shorts festivals such as Ten-Tucky at The Bard’s Town or the Finnigan Festival. 10 minutes of time on a stage is valuable – some ideas are best expressed on limited terms, but the challenge of pushing into a longer format; a 30-45 minute one-act, or a full two-act structure, and having it realized on stage is harder to come by.
Brian Walker, one of this community’s most notable playwrights, is looking to change that. Last year he founded Derby City Playwrights, a collective of Louisville writers dedicated to developing new, full-length plays. In regular monthly meetings, the members share works-in-progress through readings and discussion, examining the writing and helping to shape and improve each play.
Part of that process involves staged readings of the scripts at The Bard’s Town. Last fall the group inaugurated this phase with three readings, plays by David Clark, Ben Unwin, and Rachel White, which proved entertaining enough to merit attention from an audience, and inspired thoughtful post-reading discussions among the attendees.
Now a second, winter series is about to happen on the next two Sundays, beginning with Lightening Up, by Nancy Gall-Clayton. Admission price is free but donations are welcomed, with all monies to be split by the artists involved in the evening’s reading.
Playwright Nancy Gall-Clayton. Photo-DDP
January 18, 2015 – 7:30 PM – Lightning Up by Nancy Gall-Clayton. Emil’s midlife crisis throws his lawyer into frenzy and his wife into a lingerie shop. A play about new chapters, new experiences and dreams of Costa Rica. Featuring Laurene Scalf, Beth Tantanella, Tad Chitwood and Tony Dingman.
January 25, 2015 – 7:30 PM – CPR on the Lost Continent by Brian David Walker. It’s Scotty’s last summer before college and he thinks he’s made a major discovery on the shores of the Ohio River, a discovery that could change his life forever. In the moment before imagination succumbs to the autumn pull of responsibilities and commitments, Scotty fights for the mythologies and realities he’s come to hold dear and is unwilling to trade in order to be an adult. A play about finding what’s lost and loosing what you don’t need. Featuring Becky LeCron, Ben Gierhart, Corey Long and Neill Robertson.
https://www.facebook.com/derbycityplaywrights
The Bard’s Town
1801 Bardstown Road
Louisville, KY 40205
[box_light]Keith Waits is a native of Louisville who works at the Louisville Visual Art Association during the days, including being one of the hosts of PUBLIC on ARTxFM, but spends most of his evenings indulging his taste for theatre, music and visual arts. His work has appeared in Pure Uncut Candy, TheatreLouisville, and Louisville Mojo. He is now Managing Editor for Arts-Louisville.com.[/box_light]
