The Shawnee Playhouse opens the New Year with our Shawnee Original Playwright Series (S.O.P.S.) Winners.
Each year, Worthington Players will produce and perform the original works of area playwrights, chosen by our Executive Committee from among submissions received in an open contest.
Plays are listened to during our Staged Readings and voted on by audience members.
The resulting winners are the best of the best, and the audience has a chance to see a play before it moves on to other theatres. This year, three of the five playwrights have performed on the Shawnee Playhouse stage as well!
Opening first, on January 3rd are the Shawnee Original Playwright Series Short Plays.
This series of six short plays will be shown together at each performance. They include The Bureaucracy of Existentialism by Elizabeth Kennedy, Errant Souls by Robert S. Robbins, Absolution Green by Paul Kodiak, The Birthday Room by Rich Strack, Angel on the Yellow Couch by K.K. Gordon and The Counterfeit Dick by Zanne Hall.
Shows will be 8pm January 2nd, 9th and 16th and 2pm January 3rd, 10th and 17th.
Ticket prices are $18 for adults, $15 for seniors. Ticketing fees are not included in the price.
Opening January 22nd will be our full length original, The Two Georgias, by Brian McDermott. The Two Georgias is a dramedy about how the choices made can affect others as well as your own life, or afterlife.
For two rivals in a Broadway bound extravaganza, the lines between reality and fiction are about to be blurred when a mysterious woman makes them an offer they may be able to refuse – for a price they may not be willing to pay.
Brian McDermott is thrilled to be having his second play produced at The Shawnee Playhouse.
Two years ago his play “Your Enemies Closer” won Shawnee's original playwriting competition and he is honored to have been selected a second time.
Brian has had several of his works produced throughout the Northeast including his fractured Christmas fable “Tidings” which has been produced by two theater companies and was recently performed at Notre Dame High School. His other produced works include “Even Among Misfits” which won the Pennsylvania Playhouse's playwriting competition, “The Bartender Chronicles” and “Shore Insanity” with the Crowded Kitchen Players, and “Say Uncle” and “LHIVE” with Rainbow Players.
He has also acted, directed and served as stage manager for all three theater groups. In his limited spare time Brian writes theater reviews for Lehigh Valley Stage (www.lvstage.org) and works his “real job” as scheduler for Lehigh Valley Health Network.
His thanks go to his family and friends for their never-ending love and support, his theater friends for their assistance, George and Kate of the Selkie Seisiuns and Andrea Cartagena for allowing read-thru's of “The Two Georgias” as part of the creative process, the Shawnee Playhouse for producing new works, Steven for being there through it all, and the audience for coming out to see new theater.
The Two Georgias will run at 8pm on January 23rd, 30th and February 6th and at 2pm on January 22nd, 24th, 29th, 31st February 5th, and 7th.
Prices are $18 for adults and $15 for seniors. Ticketing fees are not included in the price.
Performers for the shows are part of the Worthington Players, and are Shawnee’s performers for off-season shows. The Worthington Players were established in 1999 and to date have focused on non-musical productions.
To reserve tickets please call the Shawnee Playhouse Box Office at 570-421-5093
or visit the website at www.theshawneeplayhouse.com