Dear Friend,

We want to introduce our newest initiative, Contemporary Voices, a live, online series that launches on Monday, October 12, at 7:30pm. Contemporary Voices will feature readings and discussions of plays by some of the finest playwrights working in theatre today, representing a cross-section of America. PBD will dedicate a month to each playwright, presenting three of his or her plays on three consecutive Monday evenings, followed each Wednesday with a discussion of the work by theatre professionals and community leaders. Contemporary Voices is sponsored by Marilyn Meyerhoff and Sam Feldman.

The series premieres with the spotlight on two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage and opens with Intimate Apparel (2003), which is scheduled for a full production when PBD returns to the theatre next season. Her Pulitzer Prize-winning Sweat (2017) follows on October 19, and Crumbs from the Table of Joy (1995) will be read on October 26. The Wednesday evening discussions, also at 7:30pm, take place on October 14, 21, and 28. Tickets are free, but reservations are required.

“Throughout this pandemic, we’ve given a lot of thought to how we can best continue to bring you live, quality theatre,” says Producing Artistic Director William Hayes. “We’ve developed a very loyal audience for our Drama(in the)works series, and we wanted to build on that. We realized that not only could we expand our content, but we could use this time to do things that we could not do during the course of a normal season, like offer multiple works by a single playwright. We know you want diversity during a subscription season. But doing one-time only readings, we can offer many more plays and have the luxury of delving into the work of a single playwright for a month. Thanks to Zoom, we also have the ability to hold a discussion about each play a few days after each reading because you don’t have to travel anywhere to participate. You just have to turn on your computers. And it’s all free.

“We decided that we wanted to spotlight significant, living American playwrights from a variety of backgrounds, perhaps introducing you to works you’ve never seen before. And certainly, at this moment in time, we’ve become more aware than ever before how important it is to hear from a range of voices and viewpoints. We’re starting with Lynn Nottage because she’s the only female playwright ever to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice. As our online season progresses, we will be showcasing additional playwrights.” 
 
Intimate Apparel will be directed by Jade King Carroll (PBD debut), and feature Rita Cole, Karen Stephens, Betsy Graver, Jacob Heimer, Shanna L. Woods (PBD debut), and Jovon Jacobs, with Laura Turnbull reading stage directions. Carroll will take part in the Wednesday discussion, along with Director of Education and Community Engagement Gary Cadwallader and Lorna Anderson James, managing director of Greywood Consulting and wife of West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James.   
 
Sweat will be directed by Belinda Boyd and Crumbs from the Table of Joy by Reginald L. Douglas, both newcomers to PBD.
INTIMATE APPAREL (October 12, 7:30pm; Discussion October 14, 7:30pm)
In this heartfelt and heartbreaking work set at the turn of the 20th century, Esther is a 35-year-old African-American seamstress of exquisite intimate apparel who aches to love and be loved. An unlikely opportunity arises when she enters into a correspondence with a man she’s never met. The play is a lyrical exploration of loneliness and longing, sweet dreams and bitter truths, determination and resiliency.    

SWEAT (October 19, 7:30pm; Discussion October 21, 7:30pm)
Lives, friendships, hopes, and the American Dream unravel in this Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, when the plant that has long employed a tight-knit group of factory workers debilitates their union. Set in blue-collar Reading, PA, this searing and compassionate play is an all too timely and realistic cri de coeur on racism, the demonization of immigrants, and the disenfranchisement of the working class.      

CRUMBS FROM THE TABLE OF JOY (October 26; Discussion October 28, 7:30pm)
Following the death of his wife, a disconsolate Godfrey Crump moves with his daughters, Ernestine and Ermina, from Pensacola, FL to Brooklyn in 1950, after coming under the spell of a radio evangelist. Seventeen-year-old Ernestine is our guide through this warm memory play, a coming-of-age tale in which the sisters confront a cultural and racial divide and are challenged with new ideas including communism and interracial romance, as they seek to break free from their father’s restrictive rules.

Tickets for Intimate Apparel can be reserved beginning Tuesday, October 6; tickets for Sweat and Crumbs from the Table of Joy can be reserved beginning the Tuesday before the performance at www.palmbeachdramaworks.org or by calling the box office at 561.514.4042, x2.

Before Contemporary Voices begins, we have two remaining Drama(in the)works play readings. Tonight at 7:30 we’re featuring Nicolas Billon’s The Neighbours, and on Monday, October 5 at 7:30, we’ll be presenting Imminent Domain by Oren Safdie. (See below for play descriptions and playwright bios.)
 
Mark and Diane Perlberg are the executive producers of Drama(in the)works. Penny Bank and Roe Green/The Roe Green Foundation are the associate producers.
 
Our next Dramalogue: Talking Theatre! is tomorrow, October 2, at 7:30pm. This week’s guest is multi-talented actor, director, and manager of The Dramaworkshop Bruce Linser, whose face has become very familiar to anyone tuning in to our virtual programs. The interview will be recorded for viewing on PBD’s YouTube channel. Marlene and Martin Silver are the sponsors of Dramalogue.
 
Tickets to Dramalogue and Drama(in the)works are free, but reservations are required. Visit www.palmbeachdramaworks.org or call the box office at 561.514.4042, x2.  And donations to PBD are always welcome!
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1 AT 7:30PM

Lucy and Simon Armstrong believe that good neighbours don’t pry. But when they learn that the man next door has been harboring a terrible secret for over a decade, they are forced to come to terms with what they may have overlooked - or worse, chosen not to see.

Nicolas Billon writes for theatre, television, and film. His work has been produced around the world. Nic adapted his first play, The Elephant Song, into a feature film starring Xavier Dolan, Bruce Greenwood, and Catherine Keener. His latest, Butcher, was mounted across Canada and is in development as a feature film. A graduate of the Canadian Film Centre’s Prime Time TV program, Nic wrote for CBC’s WWII spy series X Company and the reboot of Street Legal. Nic’s work has garnered over a dozen awards, including a Governor General’s Award for Drama, a Canadian Screen Award, and a Writers Guild of Canada Screenwriting Award.

Sponsored by:
Mark and Diane Perlberg, Executive Producers
Penny Bank, Associate Producer
Roe Green/The Roe Green Foundation, Associate Producers


Tickets are available online or by calling (561) 514-4042 ext. 2
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2 AT 7:30PM
GUEST:
BRUCE LINSER

Bruce Linser is an actor, director, and the manager of The Dramaworkshop. He directed PBD’s productions of Woody Guthrie’s American Song in 2018 and The Spitfire Grill in 2019. Bruce has also directed extensively for MNM Theatre Company, including productions of Avenue Q and Man of La Mancha. As an actor, Bruce has performed across South Florida. Highlights include Artie Shaughnessy in PBD’s recent production of The House of Blue Leaves, Man in Chair in The Wick’s production of The Drowsy Chaperone, and Clifford Bradshaw in Cabaret at Maltz Jupiter Theatre. Bruce teaches at Lynn University, and is a member of Actors’ Equity Association and an associate member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. brucelinser.com

Sponsored by:
Marlene and Martin Silvers

Tickets are available online or by calling (561) 514-4042 ext. 2
MONDAY, OCTOBER 5 AT 7:30PM

Syd and Carrie are a young couple in Venice, California, whose life is full of promise. He’s a writer on the verge of selling a TV pilot, she’s about to have a baby. But their lives are upended when a beat-up RV pulls up outside their beach house, posing an existential threat to their safety. 

Oren Safdie has been a playwright-in-residence at La MaMa, and artistic director of the Malibu Stage Company, where his Off-Broadway/London hit Private Jokes, Public Places premiered. The Last Word. . ., his next play, was also produced Off-Broadway and starred two-time Emmy Award winner Daniel J. Travanti. Other plays include Unseamly, False Solution, Mr. Goldberg Goes to Tel Aviv, Things To Do In Munich, Gratitude, Checks & Balances, and The Bilbao Effect. He also wrote the books for the musicals Jews & Jesus, Fiddler Sub-Terrain, and West Bank, UK, all with composer/lyricist Ronnie Cohen. His play La Compagnie was developed into a half-hour pilot for CBS. His screenplays include You Can Thank Me Later starring Ellen Burstyn, the Israeli film Bittersweet, and an adaptation of Mr. Goldberg Goes to Tel Aviv, which shoots this winter.  Oren has taught playwriting and screenwriting at the University of Miami, Douglas College, and California School of the Arts.

Sponsored by:
Mark and Diane Perlberg, Executive Producers
Penny Bank, Associate Producer
Roe Green/The Roe Green Foundation, Associate Producers

Tickets are available online or by calling (561) 514-4042 ext. 2
To view the past Dramalogue: Talking Theatre! program
featuring
Estelle Parsons