Calling all playwrights and wanna-bees!
Sacramento's Original Playwrights Workshop meets every Saturday morning at 10:00.
The workshop members and the owners of The Thistle Dew, Tom and Ellie, are dedicated to support playwrights and making the Thistle Dew Theatre available for production of their original works.
Jump into the critique fray or listen quietly.... until your passions rise and you feel compelled to join the mêlée.
Several people who have joined the group, experienced the process and returned with their own play have had it produced here at 'the Dew':
Timothy Cahill, “The Seduction of Thomas Sorrell” and “Going to Tibet”, Laura Sheperd, “Annie's Story”, "Last Resort Trailer Park" and "Chicken Little's Christmas Party", Julie Greene, “Going Somewhere?”, Thomas M. Kelly, “Ba-Bang!” (or The End of an Error!), “The Timekeeper”, “The Butterfly Within” and “Extreme Unction”.
The Thistle Dew Dessert Theatre has been in the forefront as a one-of-a-kind source for new thinking about the stage and theatre in the Sacramento region.
Theatre is an art form which sometimes requires the art of working with someone to produce or create. You are that someone. There are many playwrights who want and need your creative assistance and approval. Consider this their cordial invitation to you to become a part of this vibrant group of artists and continue to enjoy the benefits of theatre.
Workshopping a play is not an easy process. By one definition it is a factory. By another it is a discussion group. According to most lexicons it is a process by which a dramatic work is read and then by means of improvisation or intensive group discussion, aspects of the production, before formal rehearsals and final staging begin, are explored.
After we have fully workshopped their plays we offer local playwrights the opportunity to have their plays performed on the Thistle Dew stage at no cost to the playwright.
At the Thistle Dew it is a combination of all of the above except we take this process one step further when the play is set for production: The director conducts hours of 'table talk' with the cast in order to bring out every attribute of each character: their 'back stories', their favorite colors, why they chose their lifestyle, etc. This is the last step in the 'growing process' of the plays development in which the director forces the play to undergo before it is ready for rehearsals and production.
The Production Experience at the Thistle Dew by Tim Cahill.
"You've written a play. Whether with pencil and paper or on a computer screen, you have found your plot, shaped your characters and created your scenes. You've work-shopped it once, or twice, or forty times. You've basked in the praise of your cohorts and cringed at their criticisms, but they made the play better.
Then the Artistic Director tells you your play will "go up". It will be produced. You suddenly feel like a real playwright.
The Artistic Director controls the show. He picks the director and oversees the auditions. You go to the rehearsals, not because you have to but because you need to. When the cast is formed and starts to rehearse, you're amazed at how hard they work. They learn your lines and they create your characters. Each actor's unique talent reveals to you who your characters are for the first time, even though you wrote the words.
That is, if they don't change the words. Any changes have to be approved by the playwright. It's your play. Failure to control its content can lead to disaster and a miserable experience; acceptance of suggested changes may make it better. It's your call. And then, opening night. Wow! You pray the audience will love your play or, at least, like it. You look at their faces for any sign, any signal of acceptance or disapproval. And when the run is over you thank the actors and the director and you're thrilled. The next day you write another play."
Local Playwrights Published from the Thistle Dew Playwrights Workshop: Timothy Cahill (JAC), Julie Greene (JAC), Paul Hauck (JAC), Thomas M. Kelly (JAC, Kindle/Amazon, Barnes & Noble NOOK, SmashWords, CreateSpace/Amazon book self-publishing), Charles McIntosh (JAC) and Laura Sheperd (JAC).
Local Playwrights Produced At The Thistle Dew Theatre:
(Full-Length Plays) Timothy Cahill, Julie Greene, Paul Hauck, Thomas M. Kelly, Leo McElroy, Charles McIntosh, Laura Sheperd, Donya Wicken.
Local Playwrights Produced At The Thistle Dew Theatre: (Monologues) Gladys Acosta, Timothy Cahill, Charley Cross, Theresa Elliot, Mark Fejta, Bernie Goldberg, Julie Greene, Eugene Griffith, Cindi Bennett, Frank Ingram, Gloria Jones, Thomas M. Kelly, Charles Kelso, Roger Linder, Laura Sheperd, Donya Wicken, Susan Webster and Jeff Webster.
Contact Tom at seamusoshea12@gmail.com if you have a play you'd like critiqued.
Thistle Dew Theatre is located at 1901 P St in midtown Sacramento.
Readers are needed for the Thistle Dew Playwrights Workshop which meets every Saturday morning at 10:00. Auditions for future productions at held at the same time.
If you would like to read and critique new plays or if you have a play or monologue to be read and critiqued by the workshop, email Tom at seamusoshea12@gmail.com .
Bring one copy for each of your characters plus a copy for stage directions reader.
Tom has created informative and highly successful 'blogs' to capture your interest and to tell you what is going on at the "Dew":
The Thistle Dew Theatre:
Thistle Dew Theatre Playwright Workshop
Social and Political Comment "Word on the Street":
Super PAC: Political Action Comedy:
The (almost) Complete Play Works of Thomas M. Kelly:
The Thistle Dew Center For Literary Art: Poetry and Narrative Inquiry:
NEW!
KTDT: Sacramento's Original Thistle Dew Digital Radio Theatre http://theknowledgablewordonthestreetradio.blogspot.com/
"Click" on them and "voila",... "ta-da",... and "presto" there you are.
If you have any problems or any questions, give Tom a call AT OUR NEW BOX OFFICE NUMBER: 1-916-457-6286.
Be a part of history in the re-making!
Become a member of the live theatre audience!
Performance schedule:
Opening Night Friday, September 6 at 7:00,
Saturday, September 7 at 7:00,
Sunday Matinee, September 8, at 2:00,
Friday, September 13, at 7:00,
Saturday, September 14 at 7:00 and
Closing Matinee, Sunday, September 15th at 2:00.
