Real Paranormal Activity on 11/6 in Philadelphia

A post-crypt to Beautiful Zion: A Book of the Dead will be happening on Sunday 11/6/11 when in my first official act as a PDC @Plays & Players Playwright-in-Residence I will use my 1917 original Fuld Ouija Board to try and contact one of the ghosts believed to be haunting the historic, century-old Plays & Players Theatre on 17th Street and Delancey Place in Philadelphia, PA.

A post-crypt to Beautiful Zion: A Book of the Dead will happen next Sunday 11/6/11 when in my first official act as a PDC @Plays & Players Playwright-in-Residence I will solicit audience volunteers to use my 1917 original Fuld Ouija Board to try and contact one of the ghosts believed to be haunting the historic, century-old Plays & Players Theatre on 17th Street and Delancey Place in Philadelphia, PA.

I am told that many of the bar staff who work on the 3rd floor in the private Quig’s Pub have spotted the ghost of deceased longtime bartender Leon passing through the room on occasion. Many actors over the years have often encountered the ghost of a little boy standing on the main stage, and others insist that the ghost of famed Broadway actress and Plays & Players’ first president Maud Skinner haunts one of the dressing rooms. We shall see…

The shenanigans start on November 6 at 6:30pm at Plays & Players’ 3rd floor Skinner Studio & Quig’s Pub (RSVP required, see below) as they welcome playwrights Jeremy Gable, Brian Grace-Duff and myself as the three 2011-12 resident playwrights and bid goodbye to the three 2010-11 residents Joy Cutler, Greg Romero and Quinn Eli. There will be a meet-and-greet happy hour from 6:30pm-7pm with a toast to the outgoing residents, brief presentations from the new playwrights (this is where the Ouija board comes in) from 7-7:30pm, and a pizza party celebration from 7:30pm-8pm.

The competitive residency at Plays & Players aims to provide artistic development for Philadelphia’s professional playwrights. The playwrights utilize the Plays & Players Theater to undertake personal explorations of their work, ranging from traditional table reads to finding a quiet space to write and draw to listening to the dreams of visitors.  All activities are playwright driven. So…

Who knows what this year will bring? Find out with us.  RSVP REQUIRED.  Please email Plays & Players Artistic Director Daniel Student at dstudent@playsandplayers.org.

 

A Performance in the 6th Borough

WHAT:  Material v. Memory, A Walk Through 11 Perishable Events 

WHEN: Tuesday 9/28/10 at 6:34pm sharp (early start due to loss of sunlight; this is an outdoor event)

WHERE:  UPenn’s Kelly Writers House in the Arts Cafe; 3805 Locust Walk, Philadelphia,  PA 

COST:  This event is free and open to the public; no reservations

WHAT:  Material v. Memory, A Walk Through 11 Perishable Events

WHEN: Tuesday 9/28/10 at 6:34pm sharp (early start due to loss of sunlight; this is an outdoor event)

WHERE:  UPenn’s Kelly Writers House in the Arts Cafe; 3805 Locust Walk, Philadelphia,  PA

COST:  This event is free and open to the public; no reservations required

You will be taken on a short and lovely evening walk across UPenn’s beautiful campus, stopping along the way to see site-specific performances 3-5 minutes long. I have written and will be performing “Dream Me Up a Bartender” in an old trolley car, a darkly comic monologue about fear, fathers, drinking and the meaning of nightmares.   In keeping with the event’s theme all pieces will be performed one time and one time only, then they’re gone forever with the sinking sun.

 *
Co-produced by the University of Pennsylvania’s Kelly Writers House and the Philadelphia Dramatists Center, and curated by playwright and former ArtsEdge Resident Greg Romero, Material v. Memory is a guided walk through eleven perishable writing events, all designed to be experienced by a traveling audience for three to five minutes, and then to disappear forever. Projects explore questions of space, place, loss, and our infinite/intimate relationship with memory. Also featuring MIKE AGRESTA, BRIGHT LIGHT THEATRE COMPANY, PAULA DIEHL, NICOLE GARMAN, BRIAN GRACE-DUFF and WALLY ZIALCITA, CLIFFORD HALL, SHANE HANSON and ALICIA RODRIGUEZ, GREG ROMERO, and MICHELLE TARANSKY.