The Shawnee Playhouse encourages local playwrights to submit their original and unpublished works for a chance to win our annual contest – S.O.P.S.

The public was invited to join the readings of the original plays in 2017 and had a chance to vote and comment on each to help decide which would be produced.. Our Executive Committee reviewed the ratings and chose two short plays and one one act. The plays are Ethel by Seth Freeman, The Murder of Theodore Brodhead by John H. Abel and www.surveyhoney.com by Seth Freeman.

Seth Freeman is a playwright, a writer/producer of television, and a journalist. He is thrilled to be part of the Shawnee Playhouse Original Playwright Series. Seth produced the long-running television drama Lou Grant and created, more recently, the series Lincoln Heights.Freeman

His writing for film and TV has been honored with multiple Emmys, Golden Globes, Writers Guild, Peabody, P.E.N., Christopher, Cine Golden Eagle, and numerous other awards. There have been over a hundred seventy productions and readings of his plays in the U.S. and around the world, garnering dozens of awards. His print work has appeared in The New York Times, Southern Theatre Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Stars and Stripes, California Magazine, Los Angeles Magazine, the Huffington Post, The Hill, Yale Global among other periodicals. He contributes non-writing time to community and international organizations dealing with health care, education, the empowerment of women and human rights. He is presently a graduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles.

John H. Abel's play, The Murder of Theodore Brodhead, is a short play about the first capital crime, and execution, in Monroe County. An old man tells the story to a young man while both are seated in the courthouse square during Stroudsburg’s Sesquicentennial celebration.Abel

John is a member of the Monroe County Historical Association and serves as chair of the History Committee. He is the coordinator of the annual History Challenge competition for high school students.

The winning plays will be produced and performed on stage by the Worthington Players at 7pm August 17, 24 and 31. Ticket prices are $19 for adults, $16 seniors and $12 for 17 and under.

For tickets, show times, and more information please contact the Shawnee Playhouse Box Office at 570-421-5093 or visit www.TheShawneePlayhouse.com. DIRECTIONS: PA route I-80 to exit 310. Turn past the Welcome Center onto River Road. Follow 2 miles to the Shawnee Playhouse on Right. Shawnee on Delaware, Pennsylvania.