"Making Up For The Past," written and directed by Michael Thomas Cain,
will be performed as part of the 2012 Winterfest of Ten Minute Plays.
Michael is also directing "Snow Birds."
November/December 2012:
The Westchester Collaborative Theater is presenting 2012 Winterfest of Ten Minute Plays as its final production of the season. The plays in the Winterfest are:
Bobbo’s Bullet By Wayne Mattingly
Hooters By Gabrielle Fox
Lava Sus Manos by Jess Erick
Making Up for the Past By Michael Thomas Cain
Snow Birds By Csaba Teglas
Take One for the Team By Carol Mark
The Hunters By Joe McDonald
Turtle Soup By Rosary O’Neill
WCT members Michael Thomas Cain, Elaine Hartel, Joseph Albert Lima, Richard Manichello and Matthew Silver are directing the plays. Members Femi
Alao, Jon Barb, John Barbera, Sara Beth Colten, Jess Erick, Lorraine
Federico, Margie Ferris, Adam Glatzl, Taku Hirai, Janice Kirkel, Pe’er
Klein, Shelley Lerea, Ryan Mallon, Tracey McAllister, Suzanne Ochs, Mary
Roberts, Ron Schnittker, Leslie Smithey and Howard Weintraub are featured in the cast.
The plays will
be performed at the Budarz Theater, on the plaza level of the Ossining
Public Library, 53 Croton Ave. in Ossining, N.Y. Performances are Friday, December 7th @ 7:30 pm and Saturday, December 8th at 2 pm. A talk back with the playwrights and directors is scheduled following the December 8th performance.
Admission is free, but audience members are encouraged to reserve seats in advance by emailing: wctcompany@gmail.com
with the date and requested number of reservations. There will be open
seating for both performances but those making reservations will receive
priority seating.
The Westchester Collaborative Theater is a multi‐cultural,
cooperative theater company located in Ossining, N.Y, which is solely
dedicated to the development of new plays by its member playwrights,
actors and directors.
This
project was made possible by the Arts Alive program of ArtsWestchester,
with funding from the Decentralization Program of the New York State
Council on the Arts.
From Westchester to NYC. New York Regional Theater’s Burgeoning Westchester Collaborative Theater
WCT Program, 2012 Winterfest of Ten Minute Plays
Regional Theater is the engine that drives original theatrical
productions and puts them on the map, moving them toward greatness. If
new plays are nurtured and developed with love, effort and artistry,
eventually they may be shepherded to Broadway. This is especially true
if the theatrical group has an esprit de corps and inspired guide to
watch over the flock of artists and their offerings. The beauty of such
non profit theater is that there are no chains shackling its
creativity. Without the pressures of time and money weighing heavily
upon it, the best regional theaters make the most of their incredible
opportunity to experiment, innovate and collaborate with a fluid mix of
playwrights, actors and directors.
This has been the case with Westchester Collaborative Theater,
established in 2011 in Ossining, New York. Within the span of barely two
short years, this regional theater group’s productivity has burgeoned
like Jack’s magical beanstalk. WCT has produced Winterfest 2011 and
Winterfest 2012. These events included a number of Ten Minute Plays,
original offerings by WCT member playwrights…world premiers, acted and
directed by professionals and aspirants. With a variety of individuals
at the ready, a spirit of generous camaraderie infuses openness and
flexibility not regularly accessible in the closed atmosphere of stuffy
professional theater which is hesitant to take risks.
Campbell Scott, award winning actor and director, was a guest artist in November.
A blessing for WCT is its proximity to New York City, the theater hub of
the world. Guest artists who live in the area, like comedian Robert Klein (last year) and in November of this year, well known actor and filmmaker Campbell Scott,
are able to share their talent and expertise and serve as an
inspiration to veteran performers and engaged newbees. The atmosphere at
WCT is creative and non threatening, the overriding risk of lousy box
office receipts absent. WCT thrives on donations, grants
and the good will of patrons and the surrounding community. It is a
labor of love won by the efforts of dedicated individuals like Executive
Director, Alan Lutwin, who adore live theater and the living moments of
performance art.
This year’s Winterfest follows on the heels of a productive year for
the Westchester Collaborative Theater which included the scheduled
Summerfest of One-Act play readings, monthly LAB with developmental
readings and talk backs about select playwrights’ works in progress and a
full length play reading. As a result of WCT’s labs,
playwright/director Michael Thomas Cain was able to develop his play and present Enough’s Enough at La MaMa E.T.C. in NYC as part of the 2012 NY International Fringe Festival.
The works-in progress initiative for playwrights, directors and actors
has been exciting. Each week guest artists with years of experience in
the entertainment industry engaged in readings and talk backs. In
November award winning actor and director, Campbell Scott (Victor Geddes with Julia Roberts in Dying Young and the protagonist of David Mamet’s The Spanish Prisoner, Co-director of the award winning film, The Big Night with Stanley Tucci) performed a reading of The Wife and the Widow Next Store by Richard Manichello. The playwright, screenwriter, actor, poet (penned the award winning Choices of the Heart for television) who wrote Agnes of God, John Pielmeier (he also wrote the screenplay for the film Agnes of God) was another guest artist in November who shared his experiences and contributions to the theater and television community.
WCT Director, Alan Lutwin, introduces the 2012 Winterfest
This season’s 2012 Winterfest of Ten Minute Plays included new members,
professionals and those whose love of theater, writing, directing and
acting have kept them involved in regional theater in the New York City
area. Many of the artists’ works have appeared in Drama festivals in New
York City and around the nation. Of these, some have been
semi-finalists or finalists at the festivals, nominees of major prizes
and award winners of other venues.
One such notable is Richard Manichello,
30 years in the entertainment business (actor, producer, Artistic
Director of Peekskill Playhouse) and an Emmy Award-winning director and
writer of stage, film and television. Manichello directed two plays for
the WCT Winterfest. The first was Hooters, written by playwright Gabrielle Fox. Fox’ plays have been produced throughout New York City and the metro region. Manichello also directed Lava Sus Manos by playwright Jess Erick.
Hooters by Gabrielle Fox. Directed by Richard Manichello, with Jess Erick as Becca and Adam Glatzl as Sammy.
The Hunters by Joe McDonald, Directed by Matthew Silver. Janice Kirkel (left) as Eileen and Lorraine Federico as Rose.
New Orleans Playwright, Rosary O’Neill’s Turtle Soup from White Suits in
Summer. Directed by WCT actor and director Elaine Hartel.
Turtle Soup: Suzanne Ochs as Lucille (left) and Janice Kirkel as Aunt Jean.
Another professional, Rosary O’Neill,
whose work was presented at the Winterfest, like Manichello, has
weighty career experience and many awards and fellowships under her
belt. O’Neill who is from New Orleans is a published/produced playwright
(22 published plays)
novelist, actor, director and retired Professor of Drama and Speech at
Loyola University of New Orleans. The fourth edition of her textbook, The Actor’s Checklist, is used in schools nationwide. O’Neill founded the Southern Repertory Theatre
in New Orleans and for many years was its Artistic Director, producing a
number of the plays she had written. The comedic 10 minute play “Turtle
Soup,” directed by Elaine Hartel (actor and director for WCT and other
New York regional theater groups) was excerpted from O’Neil’s
semi-autobiographical play about a wealthy family in New Orleans, White Suits in Summer.
Snow Birds by Csaba Teglas. Directed by Michael Thomas Cain with Jon Barb and Leslie Smithey
For more information about the Westchester Collaborative Theater’s 2012
Winterfest of Ten Minute Plays, the actors, directors and playwrights,
or for information about membership in this active regional theater
company, check their Facebook page, Westchester Collaborative Theater.
Not pictured, Take One for the Team by Carol Mark. Directed by Joe Albert Lima. With John Barbera as Will, Margie Ferris as Terri and Taku Hirai as Kevin.
Bobbo’s Bullet by Wayne Paul Mattingly. Directed by Joe Albert Lima.
Left to right, Sara Beth Colten, Femi Alou, Pe’er Klein, Margie Ferris.
Lava Sus Manos by Jess Erick. Directed by Richard Manichello. From left
to right, Femi Alou, Shelley Lerea, Tracey McAllister, Ryan Mallon, Mary
Roberts.
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