The Playwrights' Lab will present six of their own short plays in the Spring Playwrights’ Festival, developed in the lab and selected from all the submissions. Here’s a breakdown of playwrights, directors, cast and subject. Come and enjoy!

The Mobile by Lee Roscoe is about parts of a mobile at odds with each other and with their Curator. Bart Murrel is helping to choreograph this motion/art/word piece. Cast: Denise Gaylord, Brian Carlson, Deborah Peabody, Bob Seaver. Roscoe is a former Manhattan theater professional now acting and playwriting in New England. (AEA Dramatists Guild).

Metamorphoffice by Andy Reynolds, directed by Tom Gladwell, is a comedy about the creative and unusual methods people employ to survive the corporate world. It takes place in a small office in a large office building in a large city in the present. Cast: Braunwyn Jackett, Jane Macdonald, Andy Reynolds, Robert Seaver. Reynolds (Playwright and “Ted”) has appeared in many plays in NYC over the past decade. Recently, his play Eucatastrophe won the 2009 Jeremiah Kaplan Foundation Prize with a staged reading upcoming June 19, 20 and 21 in Dennis. Tom Gladwell (Director) has directed extensively in New York, including new plays by John J. McLaughlin, Jane Edith Wilson and four world-premiere productions by Harry Kondoleon: including The Houseguests, which received the Obie Award for Best Play. Tom has also authored several screenplays.

Original Sin by Paul Pilcher, is his first play produced on the Cape. Directed by Pilcher, the play, which takes place in the present in the living room of the Otis’ apartment, is a look at love and family in the 21st century with some unexpected comic twists. Cast: “Griff" Griffith, Connie Tavanis, Brian Carlson, Sasha Curran. Ardent Wellfleetian and member of Playwrights’ Lab, Pilcher has been active in community and youth theater for 40 years and is the author of the children's musical, The Velveteen Rabbit, to be performed this summer in Chatham.

And Heaven Is Still A Mystery by Sasha Mallery Curran. Four actors at a community radio station present another episode of a play set in a small seaside town. Cast: Eric Dray, Griff Griffin, Sasha Mallery Curran, Peter Scarbo Frawley. Curran (Playwright & Director) is a member of the Theatre's Playwrights Lab. And Heaven is Still a Mystery is her third play to be presented here.

His Grandfather’s Clock by John G Keller. On the day of their mother's funeral in the living room of her house on the day she was buried, two brothers, long estranged, begin to come to terms with each other. Cast: Michael Mellor, John G. Keller. Keller (Playwright & Bill in Grandfather’s Clock) is a sporadic member of the NPP Playwrights' Lab who has often trod the boards of the Provincetown Theatre Company and recently in Counter Productions' Anna In The Tropics and Philadelphia, Here I Come. Adam Berry (Director) is a prolific actor and now director. Berry has starred in many Provincetown plays, most recently in Philadelphia, Here I Come (Counter-Productions) as well as School For Wives (Shakespeare On The Cape). He holds a BFA from The Boston Conservatory and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity.

The Last Guacamole At Cha-Cha-Cha by Candace Perry moves from the disappointing present back into the hopeful past in a U.S. Mexican restaurant. The story peels back the layers of years in a couple's relationship to discover how running out of love and guacamole is possible. Directed by Bob Costa (also playing the waiter) the cast includes Nielle Roselip and Jefferson Thomas. Perry's full-length play, Meridian Summer, won the 2006 Kaplan Prize. The PTC produced her first full-length play, A Yellow Light, in 2005. Since then, many of her short plays have been produced in Provincetown festivals and elsewhere. Bob Costa, Director, and his wife Christine owned and operated Christine's Oasis in Wellfleet for many years. He acted in theaters in Wellfleet, Orleans Truro and Provincetown over the past twenty-five years.

From President, Tim McCarthy:

          
When Dan Adams, the screen playwright and director of the recent GOLDEN BOYS a.k.a. CHATHAM, did a fundraiser for the Provincetown Theater where he talked about his filmmaking, he kindly donated a walk-on role in his new movie THE LIGHTKEEPERS via an auction (skillfully called by Terry Catalano of Outer Cape Auctions). I happened to be the successful top bidder, so on a recent May day I worked in my first feature film in West Barnstable, that was transformed into a 1912 railroad station and village store (not too much of a stretch on Cape Cod!). Judith Partelow, also a PTF Board member, is a member of Screen Actors’ Guild, and was asked by Adams to work on the film that day, as well. We had a fabulous time seeing and talking with some of the starring actors: Richard Dreyfus, Blythe Danner, Bruce Dern, Mamie Gummer (Meryl Streep’s daughter), and our dear Julie Harris of the real Chatham!

Thanks, Dan, and best of luck with your new film! Tim

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This month, the Provincetown Theater celebrates its fifth birthday! That’s right, it was June 24, 2004 that we opened the doors to our new home, after years of planning, fundraising, and an on-again, off-again two-year construction job that converted the old Provincetown Mechanics garage and former Ford dealership, into a fully-equipped theater. The many, many people who made this possible are, I hope, each as proud of their contributions and roles played, as I am every time I attend a performance in that magical space. Now in our sixth season, we are most fortunate to have a very full calendar, and an astounding history of excellent theatre productions.

As we note this anniversary, however, we are also aware that time is not kind to any building in our maritime climate. We have been attentive to the needs of our physical plant, and the effects of aging are beginning to show.

The PT Committee (“We take care of the Theater”) was appointed by the Board of Directors, to oversee responsibility for the building and its material content. As such, issues including landscape and parking, the mechanical and electronic systems of the theater, the interior space design and utilization, and the light and sound systems that power the shows, are our concerns.

The committee gathers reports on concerns from staff and Board members, evaluates and prioritizes them, and oversees repairs. Major projects are recommended to the Board.

In the past year or so, we have repaired the driveway; repainted the front parking area; installed rain gutters; replaced all possible lighting fixtures with energy-saving instruments; updated and cleaned up all of our computers; and overseen or performed a number of repairs to plumbing, alarm, and HVAC systems.

Looking ahead, we will have the exterior trim repainted shortly, and recognize the need to refinish the lobby floor. The front “actors’ door” has been damaged, will be replaced with a glass door that brings more light into working areas.

On our wish list is a folding, metal riser system that would replace our current platforms, making the ‘black box’ theater so much more flexible. It would permit changes in seating configuration to be accomplished in a few hours, with a few people. This has been explored with the supplier, and while the cost is currently prohibitive, we hope to develop a capital campaign to fund this major improvement.

Anyone with an interest in working with the PT Committee, to help us in taking care of the Theater, is most welcome. Please contact me, for our next meeting.

Interviewing for bartenders, cleaners, and ticket sales people. Call Patrick at 508-487-7487.

Statement Arts, a respected nonprofit theater company from New York City , will make groundbreaking use of the Provincetown Theater daytimes during Family week, August 3-8, to present a program combining education and entertainment for attending families.

Known as “Think Theatre,” the project will fill a gap in the current structure of family week, which separates working sessions on issues in LGBT parenting from those parts of the program devoted primarily to entertainment for the families. Its main feature will be a play, Peacemaker, by award-winning playwright David Holman, a 35-minute drama on breaking down prejudice and hostility between groups. The drama will be immediately followed by a 25-minute discussion aimed at addressing diversity, tolerance, and related issues faced daily by the families. This will be offered twice each day , in the mainstage area, for families with children of kindergarten to third grade.

Out of the Box, a workshop for pupils 8-10 years old, will emphasize teamwork as a basic essential of successful improvisation–and life. It will be held in the lobby of the Theater for two hours daily, Monday-Thursday.

Jennifer Chrisler, Executive Director of The Family Equality Council, umbrella organization for Family Week, stated, “Our families are an important part of the LGBT civil rights battle and they are on the front lines of education of Americans about the reality of our lives. It is important to give parents and their children a safe place to gather, an opportunity to re-energize, and access to the tools we need to create a more just society.” Lena Kaminsky, a co-founder of the project, states that “Think Theatre” aims to advance those goals.

Amateur magician, painter, puppeteer, sailor and fisherman, Bob Seaver has been a year-rounder since 1995, and has owned a home in Provincetown for 50 years this year. Although born and raised in the Chicago area, where he worked as a newspaperman, Bob is proud to be a member of a family who have been Summerfolk in Provincetown since 1875, when his grandparents brought their first born (for whom Bob is named) to Provincetown for the benefit of the sea air.

In between the Chicago Daily News and The College Board, he worked for Hillman Periodicals and MacFadden Publications as a true crime editor, TIME, Inc. as a housing news editor on House&Home, and Baruch College of the City University of New York as Assistant to the President. Bob retired as Vice President for Communications of the College Entrance Examination Board in 1995, fulfilled a lifelong dream by moving to Provincetown full time that year, and joined the Provincetown Theatre Company in 1998, playing Mr. Morse in H tel Baltimore. Shortly thereafter he joined the company's Board of Directors, and became chairman later that year. He has served as an officer or board member of each of the successor companies since then, acting and directing as the opportunity has arisen. His favorite roles have been as Mr. Morse, in H tel Baltimore, Cardinal Archbishop Hamilton in The Dead Boy, and Scrooge in Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Xmas Binge. He feels very lucky to be just past the first half of his eighty-first year and blessed with three children and five grandchildren.

Tim McCarthy, President
Brian O’Malley, Chairman of the Board
Joy McNulty, Vice President and Treasurer
Karen Billard, Grants and Website Coordinator
Robert Cardinal, Special Events
Luceil Carroll, Special Events
Allen Gallant, Sound Engineer
Scott Hayes, Program Committee Co-Chair
Judith Partelow, Newsletter Editor
Robert Seaver, Program Committee Co-Chair
Sewall Whittemore, Building Committee

http://www.provincetowntheater.org/

Please consider using GoodSearch.com when you do your on-line searches, and GoodShop.com when purchasing products on-line from thousands of brand name stores! Just type Provincetown Theater  in the bar underneath the search field. Hit “verify” and Provincetown Theater Foundation (Provincetown, MA) will fill in automatically. For every search you do in this way, the theater will receive a small percentage of income that doesn’t come out of your pocket! When shopping, if you go to GoodShop.com , 30% of all your purchases will go to the theater!

Coming in July from Counter Productions!

Stage Crew/Tech Needs:
Counter Productions, the Primary Renter at the Provincetown Theater, is employing stage crew and tech people for their 2009 Summer Season. It’s going to rock! For more information about the shows and employment visit

www.counter-productions.org

Provincetown Counter Productions is a not for profit 501 (c) (3) organization. For more information about the work of this company and how to become involved, visit www.counter-productions.org or email susan@counter-productions.org.

   "When you come into the theater, you have to be willing to say, ‘We're all here to undergo a communion, to find out what the hell is going on in this world.’ If you're not willing to say that, what you get is entertainment instead of art, and poor entertainment at that. "                        
                                                     DAVID MAMET, Three Uses of the Knife