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.

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.

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.So to recap:

WHEN: Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011
TIME: 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Academy Theatre, 119 Center St., Avondale Estates, GA
TICKETS: $5 donation at door or purchase online

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

Spring 1945: The Third Reich is in ruins at the end of World War II – and so is Joachim Von Ribbentrop. Notorious for his arrogance and ineptitude (he once greeted the King of England with a Hitler salute) Nazi Germany’s ex-top diplomat is hiding in a bombed-out backstreet, wondering what happened to the good life. With the Allies conducting a manhunt and preparing his indictment as a war criminal, Ribbentrop would just as soon lie low and dream of glory. But the shades of former rivals, living and dead, make the quiet life impossible.  Judgment day awaits, and a nagging question: VON WHO?

With Yolanda Asher, James Baskin, Daniel Burley, Jill Hames, Bill Murphey, Larry Ruth and Michael Strauss. Directed by Patricia Henritze with dramaturgy by Suehyla El-Attar.

There will be a talkback with the playwright immediately following the reading. If you’re not already familiar, the Ethel Woolson Lab provides a unique opportunity to experience the process of making new plays happen in Atlanta. This series is made possible through a grant from the Hellen Ingram Plummer Charitable Foundation.

TICKETS: $10 donation at door or secure online here Call (404) 585-7695 or email rsvp<at>workingtitleplaywrights.com.

These are five people who shouldn’t know each other…but were meant to meet.

WORKING TITLE PLAYWRIGHTS presents Theroun Patterson’s AMERICAN DISMANTLE as part of our signature program series, The Ethel Woolson Lab, this Tuesday, September 21, 2010, 7:30 p.m., at Academy Theatre.

With Nick Tecosky, Eric Mendenhall, Park Krausen, Megan Hayes and Ismail ibn Conner. Directed by Patricia Henritze with dramaturgy by Suehyla El-Attar.

AMERICAN DISMANTLE is a darkly comic journey from the present we know to the future we are creating. It’s not your abilities, but your choices that define your chaos.

There will be a talkback with the playwright immediately following the reading. The Ethel Woolson Lab provides a unique opportunity to experience the process of making new plays happen in Atlanta. This series is made possible through a grant from the Hellen Ingram Plummer Charitable Foundation.

TICKETS: $10 donation at door or secure online here. Call (404) 949-7160 or email rsvp<at>workingtitleplaywrights.com.

If you weren’t able to make it, then you missed the opportunity to enjoy a wealth of food, drink and generosity, as friends and family of Allen Hagler gathered together to hear new plays by Curt Shannon and David Fisher in concert readings directed by Betty Hart. In addition, the dynamic duo of Johnny Drago and Emma Crandall wowed the crowd with back-handed compliments that some of us are still wincing from today (but in a happy, codependent way).Food was provided by Feast, Saba, Savage and The James Joyce Pub; Colleen Hilker, Jo Howarth and Perry Patrick.

Hooch was provided by Paris, Decatur and Bob Smith and Daphne Mintz, who swears she is no longer unhappy with her husband (today).

Space was provided by Academy Theatre.

Invaluable volunteer help was provided by Kim Brundidge, George Devours, Connie Melton, Robert Drake, Jim Walsh, Lainey Welsch and Jared Foust.

A cornucopia of donated gedunk made this silent auction and raffle a delightful mix of original art(s) and first edition and autographed copies, hand crafted jewelry, sweaters, knitted caps (Allen will soon be wearing a raspberry cap made by Josie Burgin-Lawson, thanks!), tickets from just about every theater in town, switch plates, thigh masters and more! If you came without a sense of humor, surely you left with one intact.

We haven’t stopped working for Allen’s cost of living. There were a number of items left out of the auction that will become available to purchase/bid on via an online auction. Stay tuned for more details.

We’ll keep collecting contributions via pledgie.com.

If I’ve missed anyone in my acknowledgments, I humbly apologize. Feel free to give yourselves a shout out in response to this missive. I just wanted to get something out to everyone, letting you know I HEART HEART HEART YOU ALL. Your love for Allen and your generous spirits are making his life that much simpler. Overwhelming, maybe, as he had no idea, but simpler.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Starting at—like, right now—6pm tonight at The Academy, you can graze on tasty treats, purchase something to drink and/or a fabulous compliment from playwright Johnny Drago, buy a chance to win a great raffle item, make a bid on a gift for you or someone you love and hear two new short plays from WTP playwrights Curt Shannon and Dave Fisher. Admission is $10 for those who can afford (every cent goes to Allen) or—for those who can’t—two cans for the Atlanta Food Bank.

Here’s a mere glimpse of the array of goods and services you can win in tonight’s silent auction and raffle:

* Gorgeous Fender Stratocaster American Deluxe
* Tickets from over 15 different Atlanta theaters
* Gift cards from: Feast in Decatur, Natural Body, Barnes & Noble, City Dog Market, The Mercantile, and more
* Unique opportunity to sit in on a casting session with Jody Feldman at The Alliance
* Wide array of personal training sessions – physical, yoga, audition and public speaking, freedom from artistic blocks, Photoshop for Dummies, and more
* Delicious weekend bunch prepared at your house
* Yummy Cookies and Pies delivered to your home
* Exotic floral arrangement
* Amazing handmade jewelry
* Gorgeous art and craftwork
AND LOTS, LOTS MORE!

Think of it as holiday shopping! Remember, “Hagler for the Holidays”…

Tickets are a mere $10 at the door, and we’ll have food donated by area restaurants and beer, wine and sodas for a cheap $2 each.

A silent auction will begin at 6pm, and the readings will begin at 7:30 p.m.  ALL proceeds – 100% of the door, bar and silent auction – will go toward helping our dear friend Allen Hagler with his cost of living during this most arduous time in his life.

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

WHEN:  Tuesday, November 17, 2009

DOORS OPEN: 6 p.m. for silent auction. New play readings begin 7:30 p.m. Silent auction will wrap up immediately following the talkback at the end of the second play.

COST:  $10 at the door, but if you don’t have the $10 DON’T LET THAT STOP YOU – PLEASE COME ANYWAY!

And if you’ve been moved by Allen’s story and want to help, you can make a contribution to his care. Click the pledgie.com ‘DONATE’ button below, or at the top right of column of this blog.

In reading Allen’s story, know that he is not alone.  I urge you to make your voice heard in the health care debate.  You can write to your representatives in Congress via congress.org. Simply type in your zip code in the GetInvolved search box provided, click ‘contact’ on your senator or representative and write a short message.  Please do your part to make sure that the stories of the millions of those working as Allen did who don’t have the luxury of employer provided plans, as well as the millions of those who have lost their jobs and can’t afford COBRA, are placed center stage and heard.

The bad news: when we went to Grady Radiation the next day, the oncologists there were really terrific, but refused to begin his treatments when they learned his Grady Card hadn’t yet been renegotiated.  On the one hand, it is benevolent that the physicians tried to help him not go into insurmountable debt.  But I ask how benevolent is the system that requires such a choice of both doctor and patient?

That’s when we filed for unemployment and were thrilled to tears when it came through in time for us to return to Grady that following Monday, October 26^th, and successfully renegotiated his co-pays to that of a truly financially poor person. He will begin chemotherapy/radiation treatments this coming week, and will need all the help we can give him.