Now that the actual election is behind us, how about some fictional politics (and an eco-friendly lesbian romantic comedy)?
The second Tuesday of every month at 7pm, I help moderate a series of new play readings for Workhouse Theatre Company in north Minneapolis.
November’s reading (Tuesday, November 12, 2013) as part of the Greenhouse Project for new play development at Workhouse Theatre will be Eli Effinger-Weintraub’s political romantic comedy Election Cycle.
About Election Cycle…
State Representative Julia Coen (Christine Winkler Johnson) built her reputation on forging compromise, but recent toothless deals portend political disaster. Transportation cycling activist Tam Gray (Abby DeSanto) has relentless zeal and a unique way with words. Their chance meeting thrusts Tam into a world of political maneuvering she can’t comprehend and forces Julia to reevaluate everything she believes about her duty to her constituents and herself. Tam and Julia’s budding relationship weathers attacks from tenacious reporter Beth Parrish (Danielle Siver) and censure from Julia’s ambitious assistant Maddox Ford (Gabriel Murphy). But its toughest test will be Julia’s choice between safe stagnation and reckless joy – a choice that will leave Tam to deal with the unexpected consequences.
The reading takes place at the Warren Artist Habitat at 4400 Osseo Road in Minneapolis at 7pm.
The reading is free and open to the public. There will be a feedback session with the playwright afterwards. Any and all are welcome to stay and participate.
The reading is being directed by Diane Mountford.
I’ve been able to watch this play develop in recent years through my writing group and I heartily recommend it. It’s sweet and funny and smart and just a little bit sad. In fact, I frequently read the role of Julia’s assistant Maddox. Someone once teased me that the character came off as some sort of homosexual European vampire. While I take that as a peculiar brand of compliment, I’m sure Maddox will be very different in Mr. Murphy’s capable hands. I will content myself with reading stage directions and moderating discussion afterward this time.
About Eli – Her plays have been stages for Theatre Unbound’s 24:00:00 Xtreme Theatre Smackdown, the Minnesota Fringe Festival, BUA Takes 10, and SWAN Day 2013. Her prose fiction appears in Electric Velocipede, Witches and Pagans magazine, and the MinnSpec anthology Sky-Tinted Waters. She writes the “Restorying the Sacred” column at No Unsacred Place and the “Reclaiming by Doing” column at PaganSquare.
(If Eli sounds like your type of playwright, she happens to have another play reading of one of her scripts the night before our reading of Election Cycle [it never rains but it pours]. New theater company Little Lifeboats is doing a reading of Eli’s play Girl Gumshoe and Detective Dad on Monday, 11/11/13 at 7:30pm at the Northwind Warehouse Lofts, 2400 North 2nd Street, Suite 111, in Minneapolis. More info on the event here.)
December’s Greenhouse reading, on Tuesday, 12/10/13 at 7pm, will be Carol Critchley’s slightly blasphemous comedy The Deification of Gingi Levandoski – A morgue worker inadvertently revives a previously dead human and she is unwillingly thrust into the role of Deity and theologian. (More on that in the coming weeks.)
We’re currently accepting submissions for the Greenhouse Project readings to take place in 2014. Submissions (basic contact info, a synopsis of the play and the first twenty-five pages of the script) are being accepted now through December 15, 2013. The excerpts will be read, and if the full script is desired for further reading, the writer will be contacted. All writers will be informed one way or the other. For more information, visit http://www.workhousetheatre.org/gp.htm
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