WTP Presents the last On-Demand Reading of the 2011 Season:

AFFLICTIONS OF A QUIET WINTER by Essential Theatre’s 2011 Playwriting Award Winner Theroun D’arcy Patterson.
A controversial interview sets off a firestorm of events. A former child soldier rises to power in Uganda. A reluctant son defies his fate while his wife embraces her fierce ambitions. An activist shrinks from life while a reporter uncovers an American corruption. Destinies collide, snow beckons a ghost from the past, and a Jackal pulls the strings. Everything in life is a battle for something. What’s  your affliction?

With Daniel Burnley, Eric Mendenhall, Stacy Melich, Olubajo Sonubi, Ko Sonubi, Cynthia Barker, Winslow Thomas, Naima Carter Russell and Amanda Cucher.  Directed by Suehyla El-Attar.

WHERE: Academy Theatre, 119 Center St., Avondale Estates, Ga
WHEN: Monday, Dec. 12, 2011
TIME: 7:30pm
TICKETS: $5 donation at door. WTP members free.

Don’t miss your opportunity to be a vital part of this play’s development. Your participation in the talkback with the playwright, director and cast immediately following the reading is greatly appreciated.

THE JEW-CATCHER [DER JUDEFÄNGER] by David L. Fisher, Tues., Nov. 15th, 7:30 p.m., Academy Theatre, 119 Center St., Avondale Estates, Ga.

Working Title Playwrights (WTP) is proud to present this new play as part of its signature series, The Ethel Woolson Lab (TEWL). In TEWL, WTP member playwrights are given the opportunity to develop their competitively selected scripts with a team of professional actors, director and dramaturg over the course of a week culminating in a staged reading for the public. Audience participation in an engaging talkback session with the playwright after the reading is a vital component of the development process.

WHERE: Academy Theatre, 119 Center St., Avondale Estates, Ga.

TIME:  7:30 p.m.

DIRECTIONS: http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.academytheatre.org&usd=2&usg=AFQjCNHfzILQbv20dQ_HYtbn2Z0ORP4ccw

TICKETS: $10 at door or online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/208910

For more information on this and all WTP programming, contact Jill Patrick at managing@workingtitleplaywrights.com.

The kids are back in school. What are you waiting for? Here’s your chance to stop skating by on your charm and good looks and really get educated on how to  develop your playwriting craft. Or maybe you just need a Saturday School refresher on the foundations? We’ve got you covered.

Working Title Playwrights’ acclaimed playwriting workshop returns with THE 2012 KICK-ASS SERIES: ACT ONE, First Installment of a Gonzo Playwriting Workshop in Four Parts. Saturdays in October, 15, 22 and Nov. 5 and 12, 11am – 2pm at Ben Franklin Academy-Emory.

And we’re not putting just anyone in the role of ‘Teacher’, Friend. You will fearlessly be led by Dr. Pamela Turner, Regional Rep for the Dramatists Guild and Artistic Director of multiShades.atlanta.

Pamela will introduce a series of tools that you’ll be able to use to jump-start your writing in a significant and meaningful way. The four sessions of this series are designed to motivate you to write kick-ass plays and to find your own unique voice and style along the way. It will start with some basics you didn’t know you needed and then throw in some novel concepts that will kick you towards becoming the writer you were meant to be. Move to the front of the class with:

Part I: DRAIN YOUR BRAIN — Getting Started

Part II: BUILD THE PLAY — Creating Structure

Part III: TRIM THE HEDGE — Developing Story

Part IV: FEED YOUR MUSE — Finding Voice

Each session will include writing, reading, sharing, discussion, and critique. All we ask is that you sign up for the whole four-part series and provide your own writing materials. Space is limited – shine up your apple and reserve your seat today!

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Source: Jobs_friends

Working Title Playwrights Presents BEING ALIVE by Doug Graham, a WTP On-Demand Reading, Tuesday, August 23, 2011, 7:30 p.m., Academy Theatre, 119 Center St., Avondale Estates, GA. Free for WTP members. All others, $5 donation at door or purchase online.

The Hand family has suffered tragedy after tragedy for the past several years. To make things worse Jim, the father, is given knowledge of the events before they occur. Though he tries to avoid them, no matter what, the events always come to pass. As the play unfolds and Jim’s life seems to be crumbling around him, he struggles desperately to hold his family together. Inspired by the story of Job, Being Alive is a play about the importance of family and the difficulties that we face that force us to realize how special and fragile life really is.

With Diany Rodriguez, Doug Graham, Jessica Hunt, Jacob York and Lowrey Brown. A talkback with the playwright will immediately follow the reading. Your participation is greatly appreciated. Read the rest of this entry »

Because there’s nothing like a swift kick (or two, or three) in the arse when it comes to gettin’ to writin’…

Working Title Playwrights Presents THE 2011 KICK-ASS SERIES: ACT THREE, Third Installment of a Gonzo Playwriting Workshop in Four Parts

August 27-September 17

With Dr. Pamela Turner, Regional Rep for the Dramatists Guild and Artistic Director of multiShades.atlanta

THINK ABOUT IT:

• Christopher Durang says writing can’t be taught
• Paula Vogel says we are all born writers
• Doug Wright says writers mostly learn by writing

BUT THEN THEY ALL SAY:

Talent Aside, Playwriting is About the Craft

THAT’S WHAT “KICK-ASS THREE” IS ABOUT:

• The craft requires an understanding of theatre
• The craft requires structure, rhythm, and arc
• The craft requires writing, hearing, critiquing, and revising

Participants will complete a one-act play starting with an idea they bring to the first class and honed through writing exercises, group critique, and limited dramaturgy. Instruction will focus on the story arc, the influence of setting, and the play of dialogue within the unique “rules” for a one-act play. Students will be encouraged to send their finished script to a pre-selected play competition. **Participants are asked to read the one-act play Bus Riley’s Back in Town by William Inge and to bring a copy to the first class.**

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Artwork by David Crowe

WORKING TITLE PLAYWRIGHTS presents Neeley Gossett’s BREATH LIKE A BANDAGE as the second staged reading of our signature program series, The Ethel Woolson Lab—now in its 2011 run. Join us on Tuesday, August 16, 2010, 7:30 p.m., at Academy Theatre.

Bitsy is a society woman who appears to have everything she could want—except a child. During a hot Alabama summer filled with carnivals and bottle-rockets, her life collides with Tess, a fourteen-year-old girl bouncing around foster homes and selling fireworks on the state border. Bitsy offers her a stable alternative to her chaotic lifestyle, but Bitsy’s absentee husband, who cares more about golf than his wife, challenges the idea of a non-traditional family. Meanwhile, Randy, Tess’ persistent co-worker, tries to keep her in his world by enlisting her in credit card fraud and other schemes.

In order to allow the teenager in her life, Bitsy must stake Tess against her country club comforts and marriage. Presented with this new opportunity, Tess must navigate different social climates, decide which life fits her best, and weather events outside of her control. Breath Like a Bandage is an often humorous investigation into the definition of family and what it means to be wanted.

With Laura Carson as Bitsy, John Benzinger as Tom, Ashleigh Hoppe as Tess and Brian Webber as Randy. Directed by Melissa Foulger with dramaturgy by Addae Moon, both in residence for the 2011 TEWL.

There will be a talkback with the playwright immediately following the reading. The Ethel Woolson Lab continues the WTP tradition of providing a unique opportunity to experience the process of making new plays happen in Atlanta.

TICKETS: $10 donation at door or secure online here. Questions? Email rsvp<at>workingtitleplaywrights.com.

Working Title Playwrights Presents  IN THE GARDEN by Amina S. McIntyre, a WTP On-Demand Reading, Monday, July 25, 2011, 7:30 p.m., Academy Theatre, 119 Center St., Avondale Estates, GA. Free for WTP members. All others, $5 donation at door.

IN THE GARDEN, an adaptation of The Song of Songs, follows Shelly in her attempt to keep her brother Benjimin from selling the family garden. But Shelly gets distracted by a mysterious man who lands in the garden one night and, unbeknownst to her, falls in love with the garden’s buyer. IN THE GARDEN is in development and will be produced at Lenoir-Rhyne University in October 2011.

With Enisha Brewster, Jeffrey Zwartjes, Geoffrey Williams and Portia Cue.

WHEN: Monday, July 25, 2011
WHERE: Academy Theatre, 119 Center St., Avondale Estates, GA
TIME: 7:30 p.m.
TICKETS: $5 donation at door (WTP members free)
No RSVP required

Working Title Playwrights is thrilled for one of our own, Theroun D’Arcy Patterson, and the success he’s achieved in the short time he has dedicated himself to playwriting. Among other distinctions, he is the winner of the 2011 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award. Check out a great Encore Atlanta feature about his journey here.

His play, A THOUSAND CIRCLETS, is a part of this summer’s Essential Theatre Play Festival, opening on June 30th. We are delighted that this fine work has its humble beginnings rooted in WTP’s Monday Night Critique Sessions and our On Demand Reading Series (ahem, mentioned way back in January 2010 right here in this very blog, as some of you may recall). You can catch its premiere performance on July 15th.

So here’s your takeaway: 1) Go see Theroun’s A THOUSAND CIRCLETS and 2) when you think about developing playwrights, think Working Title Playwrights. Our support can have a ripple effect.

The 2011 launch of Working Title Playwrights’ signature program series, The Ethel Woolson Lab, is kicking off with TRAVELING THOMAS, by Valetta Anderson and Thomas W. Jones II.

With Willa Bost*, Theresa Cunningham, Marguerite Hannah*, Enoch King*, Eric J. Little*, E. Roger Mitchell*, Amber Moorer*, Margo Moorer*, Eugene H. Russell IV*.

Journey along on Monday, May 9, 2010, 7:30 p.m. at the Alliance Theatre 3^rd Floor Black Box,1280 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, GA 30309. $10 tickets cash at the door. (404) 949-7160 or email to rsvp<at>workingtitleplaywrights.com.

Book by Valetta Anderson. Lyrics and Directed by Thomas W. Jones II. Music Director: William Knowles.

TRAVELING THOMAS is a fictionalized account of the early Blues career of Thomas Andrew Dorsey, now known as the Father of Gospel Music. Set in Prohibition Era Chicago, TRAVELING THOMAS explores the two worlds he attempted to straddle and ultimately merged into a new, sacred music genre as his music traveled from Gertrude “Ma” Rainey to Mahalia Jackson. As “Georgia Tom,” “Barrelhouse Tom” and “Smokehouse Charlie!” he had steady income working with Ma Rainey, Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, Monnette Moore, King Oliver, and others, topped by royalties from both Paramount and Gennett Records. His possible inspirations to transform raunchy, Devil Music’s vulgarity into music for worship that brought African-American music into the heart of America’s religious experience are the actions of this play.

Bring Mama, a mama you know or, shucks, anyone born to a mama, for an extended Mother’s Day celebration! There will be a talkback with the playwright immediately following the reading.

*These actors appear courtesy of Actors Equity Association.

Working Title Playwrights Presents THE LIARS CHILD by Sharon Mathis, a WTP On-Demand Reading, Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 7:30 p.m., Academy Theatre, 119 Center St., Avondale Estates, Ga. Free for WTP members; $5 requested donation all others.

The Liars Child by Sharon Mathis

A legacy of violence. Accusations, delusions, and lies. Is killing in the genes? A son must choose between parents, and do an unspeakable wrong for the right reason. In the nightmare of living with his act, Orestes discovers the truth about his family and a promise of peace.

Based on Aeschylus’ “Orestia”, the play is history told by the outsiders- women, children, and servants. As it unfolds inside Orestes’ head, time is fluid; the dead can resurrect; and the living become demons or gods. The story is as old as myth and as new as a dream.

With Joshua David Simpson, Betty Mitchell, Whitney Drury, Naima Carter-Russell, Nadir Mateen, Laura Carson, Sarah Keys Chang, Lauren Broussard, Neal Hazzard, David Fisher and Jared Foust. A talkback with the playwright immediately following the reading will be moderated by Pamela Turner, PhD., Regional Representative Dramatists Guild of America.

WHEN: Tuesday, May 3, 2011
WHERE: Academy Theatre, 119 Center St., Avondale Estates, Ga.
DIRECTIONS: http://academytheatre.org/Directions.asp
TIME: 7:30 p.m.
COST: WTP Members FREE / $5 requested donation all others