Play Reading of The Great Stalinski
My play, The Great Stalinski, will be given a reading by the Pittsburgh New Works Reading Series, on Monday, November 5.
The Reading Series will be be held at Higher Voice Studios, 144 E Main St, Carnegie, PA 15106, at 7:00 p.m. Their website is https://pittsburghnewworks.org/reading-series/
The Great Stalinski was selected as a finalist for the Pittsburgh New Works Festival in 2018, but just didn’t make the final cut of 18 produced plays. Out of hundreds of submissions, my play and about 39 others were finalists. The Reading Series is taking the plays that didn’t make it and giving them a reading over the course of the winter with local actors.
Of course I’m thrilled to be included.
The Great Stalinski is a personal favorite of my plays, as it started what I call “The Cabot Trilogy.” Let me explain: The play is about the third generation of Cabot actors who are gathered together for the funeral the “World’s Greatest Shakespearean Actor,” Gregor Stalinski. Brothers Jack and Monty and sister Veronica Cabot were close to Stalinski (especially Veronica) and they meet up at Jack’s theater to travel together to the funeral. The Cabots are theater royalty and the play is really a fun piece about theater history and fame.
So after writing it, that got me to thinking about the other generations of Cabots and I wrote a play about Jack, Monty and Veronica’s parents called Three Sisters in Repertory. I love that play. The characters are great. We meet Charles Cabot, their father, and three sisters, Virginia, Eve and Roz Fleming. I’m guessing that one of them becomes their mother. Again, theater history is evident as scenes are played from Pygmalion, Hamlet and The Importance of Being Earnest.
So I had to write a play about the First Generation of Cabots and I wrote the first act of what would become The Cabots of Broadway, where we meet Kate and John Cabot, who start the whole family on a theatrical career.
Act Two is Three Sister in Repertory and Act Three is The Great Stalinski. I’m really proud of this play and have been sending it out religiously.
As always, my plays are on New Play Exchange. I’m sorry more of you can’t see or read the plays just yet, but I’m working on it. It’s hard work.
Some Nice Words About My Ten Minute Play.
So, if you’re a fan of my blog (and maybe you should be), I’ve discovered that earlier in the month a couple of playwrights on the New Play Exchange, where I host my plays hoping that someone will read them and want to produce them, have read my play, The Ten Minute Play (with a Nice Picture of Jimmy Carter).
I am thrilled to say that both liked the play very much and have written some wonderful comments about that are posted on my New Play Exchange profile.
Here’s what they said:
Update: October
My play, The Ten Minute Play (with a Nice Picture of Jimmy Carter), had a reading at the Midwest Dramatists Conference, near Kansas City, on Saturday, September 29. The conference gave me a chance to hob-nob with theater folk and just talk about plays for a few days. Playwright Sean Grennan and agent Beth Blickers were there all weekend giving feedback to playwrights as the plays were being presented.
It went great. Lots of laughs (which is good, since it is a comedy) and positive feedback from the judges. My actors were great. Brie Henderson as Gwen and Curtis Smith as Peter delivered the lines perfectly. Thanks to those two for wonderful performances.
I’m glad I went to the conference. The organizers were very good. I’ve done a few conferences in my career and I know how hard it could be. They took very good care of us. David Hanson, Vicki Vodrey, Lindsay Adams were all really really nice people. (David Hanson directed my play, too.
I met other playwrights from all over the country who attended and talked to them about their work and how they approached getting their stuff out there. I was happy to meet Tim Toepel (who had worked with Steve Allen), Morgan Trant Kinnally, Linda Paul, Sharon Goldner, and many others.
I was impressed with the actors the conference had for the readings. There was about 15-18 actors doing almost 50 plays and they were very good. It’s really an actor’s dream to have so many different parts to play. Shoutouts to Brie and Curtis (in my play, but good in others, too). Laura Jacobs and Nicole Hall were great, and I mean great, in everything they did over the weekend. I’ve got parts for both of them in a couple of plays of mine.
So now, we move on to other things. Thanks for reading. If you’re a member, all of my plays are on New Play Exchange under my name.
Greg Hatfield: Ruminations 