Dramatists Guild of AmericaI was the Dramatists Guild's regional representative for Baltimore from 2014, when I took over from our inaugural rep, Rich Espey, until 2017, when I was succeeded by Amy Bernstein. In addition to organizing events such as the Thursday Night Footlights reading series, my main focus was to foster ties among dramatists living throughout the state of Maryland.
If you'd like more information about the Dramatists Guild, please don't hesitate to contact Amy: [email protected]. I also encourage you to visit the Guild's website. |
Thursday Night Footlights in Baltimore
Baltimore's Thursday Night Footlights reading series returns for another season. Free public readings of works in process, by DG members, shall take place on Thursday evenings throughout 2017 and 2018, at various theaters in Baltimore. Each reading shall be followed by a talkback session between the audience and the playwright, moderated by the DG rep.
Fall 2017 Schedule
Character Building by Martin Blank
Thursday, October 5 @ 7:30 PM @ Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre
This one-man musical is adapted from Dr. Booker T. Washington's inspirational talks given to his students at Tuskegee University.
"Queen of the Air" and "Nanticoke Acres" by Mark Scharf
Thursday, November 16 @ 7:30 PM @ Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre
On the last leg of her round-the-world flight, Amelia Earhart vanished from the skies on July 2nd, 1937, and was never heard from again. Or was she? A few hours later, radio transmissions purportedly from Amelia were heard all over the world. Listeners included an American teenage girl in St. Petersburg, Florida, listening to her family’s radio, tuned to “short wave” frequencies. Over the next two days, the teenager kept a notebook next to her radio and transcribed, everything she heard and when she heard it until the transmissions stopped, on July 4th. "Queen of the Air: The last Transmissions of Amelia Earhart" follows Amelia as she struggles to survive and the fragile connection between herself and a young girl thousands of miles away.
"Nanticoke Acres" explores family connections, expectations, and the things that last that are worth holding onto. Val has been content living alone in the rambling, old family house on a large riverside property where she raised her now adult children. But, now, part of the roof has given way, forcing her to finally face selling and moving into a retirement community, as urged by her younger son against the wishes of her oldest son, who still clings to the house and land as home. Although each son wants to help her, their solutions are intertwined with solving their own problems.
Winter/Spring 2018 Schedule
The Expedition by Robin Cuddy
Thursday, January 18 @ 7:30 PM @ Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre
A woman photographer and her former lover, a Southern lawyer, try to find justice for a group of homeless men in Baltimore whose numbers include the elderly son of a famous explorer.
Regrettably, March's reading of The Folks at Home, by R. Eric Thomas, has been cancelled.
The Biography of Saints by Sharon Goldner
Thursday, April 12 @ 7:30 AM @ Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre
For the longest time it was just Marlene and her daughter Gracie, two fabulous females living life after a bitter divorce, making a new kind of home in a new city, each helping raise the other. They are the proof that mothers and daughters can actually like one another. When Marlene's body puts out the welcome mat for cancer, it becomes the guest that will not leave. Much to Gracie’s dismay, a bed-ridden Marlene accepts the offer of help from her ex husband’s current wife, who just so happens to be the bitch--correction: harlot; correction: she-devil; no, no, femme fatale; no, person--the person who is the woman who broke up the marriage in the first place.
Volcano Dancer by C. A. Hall
Thursday, May 31 @ 7:30 PM @ Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre
A musical drama about earth changes ...
Unturning by Gloria Makino
Saturday, June 9 @ 1 PM @ Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre
Epic heroine Eustacia Vye struggles to belong in a world that condemns her as a half-breed witch. Yet even as polite society shuns her, her mysterious charm proves irresistible, and she is pulled into a love triangle inflamed by racial bias, class prejudice, and family tensions. A musical by and about a mixed race woman, Unturning was adapted by Gloria Makino from Thomas Hardy's novel The Return of the Native & the music of John Thomas.
Footlights Archive
Baltimore's Thursday Night Footlights reading series returns for another season. Free public readings of works in process, by DG members, shall take place on Thursday evenings throughout 2017 and 2018, at various theaters in Baltimore. Each reading shall be followed by a talkback session between the audience and the playwright, moderated by the DG rep.
Fall 2017 Schedule
Character Building by Martin Blank
Thursday, October 5 @ 7:30 PM @ Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre
This one-man musical is adapted from Dr. Booker T. Washington's inspirational talks given to his students at Tuskegee University.
"Queen of the Air" and "Nanticoke Acres" by Mark Scharf
Thursday, November 16 @ 7:30 PM @ Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre
On the last leg of her round-the-world flight, Amelia Earhart vanished from the skies on July 2nd, 1937, and was never heard from again. Or was she? A few hours later, radio transmissions purportedly from Amelia were heard all over the world. Listeners included an American teenage girl in St. Petersburg, Florida, listening to her family’s radio, tuned to “short wave” frequencies. Over the next two days, the teenager kept a notebook next to her radio and transcribed, everything she heard and when she heard it until the transmissions stopped, on July 4th. "Queen of the Air: The last Transmissions of Amelia Earhart" follows Amelia as she struggles to survive and the fragile connection between herself and a young girl thousands of miles away.
"Nanticoke Acres" explores family connections, expectations, and the things that last that are worth holding onto. Val has been content living alone in the rambling, old family house on a large riverside property where she raised her now adult children. But, now, part of the roof has given way, forcing her to finally face selling and moving into a retirement community, as urged by her younger son against the wishes of her oldest son, who still clings to the house and land as home. Although each son wants to help her, their solutions are intertwined with solving their own problems.
Winter/Spring 2018 Schedule
The Expedition by Robin Cuddy
Thursday, January 18 @ 7:30 PM @ Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre
A woman photographer and her former lover, a Southern lawyer, try to find justice for a group of homeless men in Baltimore whose numbers include the elderly son of a famous explorer.
Regrettably, March's reading of The Folks at Home, by R. Eric Thomas, has been cancelled.
The Biography of Saints by Sharon Goldner
Thursday, April 12 @ 7:30 AM @ Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre
For the longest time it was just Marlene and her daughter Gracie, two fabulous females living life after a bitter divorce, making a new kind of home in a new city, each helping raise the other. They are the proof that mothers and daughters can actually like one another. When Marlene's body puts out the welcome mat for cancer, it becomes the guest that will not leave. Much to Gracie’s dismay, a bed-ridden Marlene accepts the offer of help from her ex husband’s current wife, who just so happens to be the bitch--correction: harlot; correction: she-devil; no, no, femme fatale; no, person--the person who is the woman who broke up the marriage in the first place.
Volcano Dancer by C. A. Hall
Thursday, May 31 @ 7:30 PM @ Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre
A musical drama about earth changes ...
Unturning by Gloria Makino
Saturday, June 9 @ 1 PM @ Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre
Epic heroine Eustacia Vye struggles to belong in a world that condemns her as a half-breed witch. Yet even as polite society shuns her, her mysterious charm proves irresistible, and she is pulled into a love triangle inflamed by racial bias, class prejudice, and family tensions. A musical by and about a mixed race woman, Unturning was adapted by Gloria Makino from Thomas Hardy's novel The Return of the Native & the music of John Thomas.
Footlights Archive