Over 80 Years!
Equity
Library Theater
of New York
(and
The Woodside Players of Queens, The Fifth Avenue Theater of New York)
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Equity
Library Theater has been presenting short plays (comedy,
drama and musicals) by writers from around the globe,
in association with the NYPL, since 1943 as a sort of New York City roadshow,
with performances rotating among many theaters built during the Depression in
branches of the New York Public Library. Equity Library Theater won the
Off-Broadway Theatre Tony Award twice, in 1953, and in 1977. Today they present
their works for all to enjoy in person and in a virtual setting.
The Woodside Players of Queens has been
nominated for the “Bethpage Best of the Boro 2025” contest in the Best Theatre
Arts Center Category. votes are accepted one vote per category per day per
person at bestof.qns.com.
Make a small contribution to Equity Library Theater here.
Watch “The Therapy Session”, by Risa Lewak, at LHNH, here.
This class
is designed for the beginning adult actor seeking experience and feedback. The
class highlights ways to make your performance more natural and spontaneous.
Attendees will work with ensemble building games, script analysis, scene study,
and stage production. New York director Johnny Culver moderates the sessions.
No experience is necessary. Space is limited. The class meets the 4th
Saturday of each month, 12:30 - 2pm. More info, email: equitylibrarytheater@gmail.com. Or visit
the NYPL site.
We
have another weeknight session, meets the third Thursday of every month, at the
West End Collegiate Church on the Upper West Side, returning October 17th
at 6pm. Contact us if interested in attending.
Acting and Theater Study Group!
Join us at the NYPL Kingsbridge/Riverdale Branch, returning October
5th at 1pm. Details here. All are welcome for an
afternoon of scene work, exercises, and conversation about the art of the
stage. Repeats the first Saturday of each month. Free to attend!
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14-01 Astoria Blvd. (718) 278-2220
Bring your five minute or less monologue, poem,
play, story, etc. to share, actors welcome! Details here.
New!: Coming to the
Steinway Branch in November, second Saturday monthly (Click for details)
Seeking actors for a March 2025 production
in Manhattan!
Equity
Library Theater of New York presents a staged reading of the 1897 apocalyptic
short story “The Star” by HG Wells, with
Broadway actors. Runs about an hour Email: equitylibrarytheater@gmail.com
if interested in participating.
“On New Year's Day (about 1900, presumably),
astronomers announce that the orbit of the planet Neptune has become erratic.
Soon it's discovered that a strange luminous object has entered the Solar
System, its gravitational pull causing the disturbance. This story is often
credited with having created a science fiction subgenre depicting the impact
event of a planet or star colliding, or near-colliding with Earth.”
October 12th
at 1pm at the NYPL Hamilton Grange/West 145th Street Branch, 503 W
145th St, New York, NY 10031.
Equity Library
Theater of New York presents ninety minutes of short comedies by up-and-coming
playwrights,
(Sharisse Zeroonian, Y. Danese, Thea Flanzer, and more).
With
Broadway performers!
Free for
all to attend. More
information, email: equitylibrarytheater@gmail.com.
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October
27th at 1pm at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, 331 E 70th St, New York, NY 10021
“Southern
Gals”, a new play by Gail Rivers.
Gail
describes this play with music as: "Melinda (Me) trying to break into the
music industry. She encounters a setback due to mishandling of monies by her
manager. Briefly living on a farm down South, with her aunt and uncle, isn't
the ideal lifestyle for her." Runs about an hour, with actors from Lenox
House and beyond!
More information, email: equitylibrarytheater@gmail.com.
Fifth Avenue Theater of New York
presents:
“More Tales
from The Times - Selections from the Metropolitan Diary.”
Readers present and discuss short vignettes
based on the popular and often hilarious New York Times Saturday
section. 1pm, Tuesday October 22nd at the New York Public Library 18
West 53rd Street. More info, email: fifthavenuetheater@gmail.com.
Care to participate? Read some selections
here! https://www.nytimes.com/column/metropolitan-diary
Equity Library Theater of New York and
the Woodside Players of Queens present:
“The
Monologue Table 3”
A presentation of short solo scenes by
local actors.
Sunday, November 10th at
3:00pm @ QED Astoria.
Details and tickets ($10) at www.qedastoria.com
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“The Candle”, a new musical
by Zach Alfred-Levow
“The Candle” tells the story of Josh, a college student struggling
to get his life together a year after the death of his grandfather in a bizarre
accident. When Josh lights a memorial candle, he finds that his grandfather has
somehow returned for 24 hours. Josh must use his time wisely to help him move
forward and say the goodbye he never got.
If a lost loved one returned for a day, what would you do?
Sunday, November 24, 2024
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Ripley Grier Studios 520 8th Ave, Studio 10D
Free admission. Reservations only and are required, email: equitylibrarytheater@gmail.com.
Equity
Library Theater of New York is seeking actors for a 2025 staged reading of
several short plays by Alice Gerstenberg. The reading will
be held in association with Women’s History Month and the NYPL. If interested,
please send resume and headshot, and play you are interested in (Look at Google
Books “Ten One Act Plays by Alice Gerstenberg”)
to:equitylibrarytheater@gmail.com.
“Actors Free Co-op” meets weekly (Sundays 8-10pm ET) on Zoom.
It is a nurturing space to work on monologues, cold reads, scenes, improv,
exercises, commercial copy, get help with self-tape setups, etc. - whatever the
group wants.NO COST WHATSOEVER! FREE
FOREVER! Actors of all levels are welcome. It's OK to just observe. Attend
often or occasionally. We'll have rotating facilitators. (We encourage actors
to step into this role occasionally.) Bring your own material to work on or let
the group assign something for you. The email address of group is: actorsfreecoop@gmail.com. Folks can send their contact info to be on
our mailing list/get the Zoom link. We have an Eventbrite account in case
actors prefer to sign up for specific dates there:
https://www.eventbrite.com/o/actors-free-co-op-79624123403.We also have a
Facebook page which has the link to Eventbrite signup and
also has our email address: http://facebook.com/actorsfreecoop.
Summer 2024 Virtual Play Festival!
Winners Below!
Park Benches – Darrin J. Friedman
The Institute of Love – Jack Rushton
Waiting
for the GYN - Helen Cheng Mao
At the Clinic - Milton Coykendall
My Shayna Punim – Felix
Racelis (Winner - Best Actresses)
A Woman and a Lioness - Lee Roscoe
Coffee
With Pearl – Rachel Rubin Ladutke
My Ex-Wife's Wedding - Raechel Segal
The Giant Child - Taylor Wendell Lozano
Two Tickets to the Circle Line – Thea Flanzer (Winner - Best Production)
Rosemary Frisino Toohey - Seventeen
DON TALK #23 - Bryan Harnetiaux (Winner - Best Actor)
Crashing – Ashley Nicole Audette (Winner - Best Play)
Of Muppets and Vampires – Billy Jenkins
Oprah Hugs – Mark Sbani (Special Mention ”What fun!”)
42nd Street Forever - Peter Rowan
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Just ended!
Equity Library Theater of New York
Summer 2024 Play
Festival!
August 3rd at 1pm at the NYPL Harry Belafonte 115th Street Library
203 W 115th St, New York, NY 10026. Lisa Dixon is your host.
Featuring
Robin Blasberg – Hamstering.
With: Mark
Baumgartner
Amends – Julia Genoveva. Director: KM Jones.
With: Kathy Tejada,
Anthony Castellano
The Caterpillar and The Human - Marjorie Conn.
With: Callie J. Cox,
Marjorie Conn
“Mrs. Sorken” - Renee Albert
What's Smokin' - Lex E. Rojas.
With: Garrett Bailey
& Santiago Molina
Dating is Haram! -
Noor Mondal.
With: Afia Kapadwala, Cindy Farida, Parisa Garcia, Shifa
Kapadwala
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August 10th at 1pm at the NYPL Harry Belafonte 115th Street Library
203 W 115th St, New York, NY 10026. Lisa Dixon is your host.
Long Story Short - John DeBenedetto.
With: Zachary Fretag, Devon Lawler, Matt Moschella
When Turtles Can Fly -
Sarita James.
With: Sarita James, Pushpom James, Uma Garg, Nicholas Garg, Alex Garg, Rebecca
Hornstein, Amanda Parsons
Shila Jones – Monologue
The Therapy Session – Risa Lewak.
With: Johnny Culver, David Mackler, Laurie Sammeth
At the Rihga
Royal - Vicky Devany.
With: Vicky Devany, Mark Gering
Ann Fulton - Charles Lupia.
With: Susan Palmer Everly
An Imperfect Storm -
Stephen Joseph Olson.
With: Philip Gagliano,
Sandford Stokes, Marie Grace Seeba
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August 17th at 1pm at the Queens Library Astoria Branch 14-01 Astoria Blvd,
11105 (718) 278 2220. Baler Simmons
hosts. Read more here:
Reg & Jared -
Eugene M. Grygo.
Director: Rachael
Langton
With: Rick Benson,
Duane Ferguson
Stage Manager: Jackie Ivers.
Get Out of My
Head!!! - Youlim Nam
With: Alexandra Anisman, Steph McIsaac.
White Russian - Y Danese
With: Joel Roman,
Trevor Crane
I Ate the Divorce
Papers
With: Alexis Tandit.
Questioning
Authority? - Michael Chepiga
Director: Lillian Thakuria
With: Jasmine
O’Donnell, Dianne Rothenberg, Lynn Mestel
Yellow Roses –
Robert Kirkendall
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January 21st,
2024, Equity Library Theater presented an online performance of short selections
from “The Comic Entertainer” compiled by Henry L. Williams (1902).
Spring 2024
Virtual Festival! Watch over 30 entries below. Winners in red.
And God Laughs – John Tierney (TIE BEST ACTOR)
All God's Children Got Equipment - John
Paul Porter
Louis and Clark – David Guaspari
Blue Nightmare Vocation – Hunyah Irfan
The We
Heart Christopher H. Mahoney Through Time and Space Forever Club - Bailey
Jordan Garcia
Where’s This (play) Train Going? – Bruce Guelden (TIE BEST PLAY)
"Glass Child" - Sharisse Zeroonian
Is Everything Okay – Samekh Resh
Model United Nations – Thea Flanzer (TIE BEST PLAY)
Questioning Authority – Michael Chepiga (TIE BEST PLAY)
Gub Gub Godmother Gaslight – Colleen O’Doherty
Enkha
Monologue From Fierce, A One-Act Play - Mary Donnet Johnson
(TIE BEST ACTOR)
I Am the Center of My Universe - Nora Louise Syran
Sadie Hawkins Dance – Ryan Vaughn
Dialogue with an Extrovert – Robert Csoma
Last Time I Saw Her - A short play by Jed Sutton
Who Needs A Playwright? – Helen Cheng Mao
Helter Shelter – Philip Way (TIE BEST PLAY)
The Ballad of Lulu and Dad - Festival Cut – Wayne Paul Mattingly
Beautiful Sludge – Gordon Blitz
Dancing Kitties – Sally Connors
AIDEN - A Short Sci-Fi Musical – Clay Herzberg (TIE BEST PLAY)
Call Me Your Queen – Ryan Vaughn
Little Kasia Meets the God of
Death – Andrea Berting
A Small Victory – Matthew Menendez
The Packsaddle Librarian – Benjamin Peel
The Dream People - Patrick McEvoy
For more free events
(theater, dance, workshops, readings, deals, etc.), in New York City, visit www.clubfreetime.com.
Please consider becoming
a member of the Episcopal Actors' Guild, visit www.actorsguild.org for more information. The mission of the Episcopal Actors' Guild
is to provide emergency aid and support to professional performers of all faiths and none
who are undergoing financial crisis. We are also dedicated to helping emerging
artists advance their careers through scholarships, awards, and performance opportunities. See their many events here: https://www.actorsguild.org/calendar.html
Past event! Sunday,
January 28th at 3pm,
“Back to The
Monologue Table”, @ QED Astoria
27-16 23rd Avenue
Astoria, NY 11105.
Equity Library
Theater of New York & the Woodside Players of Queens presented short solo
scenes by local actors. Cynthia Gale Valdes hosted. Watch here!
Click here for a video of our December 2023 performance.
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Equity Library Theater of New
York Summer 2023 Virtual and In Person Play Festival. Watch all submissions
below.
Sunset Phenomena – Linda Pallotta
The Actor Prepares – Donna Sisco
Lois Returns – John Minigan (Special Mention – Acting)
Strangers in a City - Steph Prizhitomsky
The Edge of Tonight – Parker
Jenkins (Tie Best Play)
Prodigal Son/Someone Saw Me
– Alexia Star
Coke? I Don't
Like Coke - John McDonnell Tierney (Tie Best Actor)
Boyfriend – Robert Kapler (Tie Best Play)
If I Only Had No Heart – Maripat Allen
The Bunker Thought – Peter Curry
Dog Therapy/Therapy Dog
- Stefan Diethelm
It’s a Dog’s Life – Fran
Handman
My Beau Brian - Rose-Mary
Harrington, performed by Penelope Grover
The Tale of Superfly@ Ball
State University – AJ Dorough
Irresistible Impulse –
Barbara Alfaro
From Train to Train - Steve Duprey
The Sticking Point – Fran
Handman
Quantum’s Big Picture –
Begonya Plaza-Rosenbluth (Tie Best Actor)
Alone inside the Box – Nick Maynard (Special Mention – Acting)
Guys in the Wild –
Felix Racelis (Tie Best Play)
Street Fight - David Malouf (Tie Best
Actor) (Tie Best Play)
The video contains
profanity and violent language.
The
history of Equity Library Theater can be read, here.
Visit the 2023 Secret Theater Summer One Act
Festival, here.
Visit
“Genoveva _Productions”, here.
Visit
Elmwood Community Playhouse, Inc., here.
Visit our
Community Partner, City Gate Productions, here.
Free Theater within the NYC Parks, here.
Writing by Johnny
Culver (here).
Links to other NYC area theater groups:
425 6th Ave, New York, NY 10011 Watch here!
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Exclusive Benefit Performance - July 30th @1pm in New
York City!
Equity Library Theater of New York presented a play by Johnny
Culver.
“The Bermuda Curse”
With:
Sasha Henriques,
Griffin Ostrowski,
Laurie Sammeth,
Cynthia Gale Valdes
Peyton Place, horses wearing blankets, the Flushing train, grouchy
Miss Rivas, John Wayne and more in this one-hour comedy!
Place: The Customer Service Office of a small New York publishing
company.
Time: A Monday in January. A few decades ago. Photos here!
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Past
Event! May 21 at 1pm, The Fifth Avenue Theater of New York presented
an afternoon of short new plays. @ 650 Fifth Avenue, lower level, enter on 52nd
Street.
Featuring
works by Sarah Congress, Michael Chepiga, Laurel
Lockhart, Parker Cross, Denis Meadows, Jen Ju, Julia Genoveva and more. Over 60
people attended the 90 minute event.
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Recently…
“Hide and Seek”
A new play by Dena Levin
June 10th and 11th at 2pm at the New Stage Theater
“This is a play about
David, a sixteen-year-old, in the process of coming to terms with his
sexuality. Adolescence is a difficult
time for most teenagers, and it is for David. Sharing wonderful times with his
Aunt Liz, David becomes aware how people have overcome challenges in their
lives. He becomes enlightened and learns how he will navigate his life, even
with an obstacle, his father!” See photos here.
With: Sasha Henriques,
Griffin Ostrowski, Gus Ferrari, Noah Kleinberg, Julia Genoveva
and Tess Chadwick. Johnny Culver
directed.
St. Mary’s Drama
Guild of Woodside presented
“The Sound of
Music”.
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VILLAGE PLAYWRIGHTS
OF NEW YORK
The Village
Playwrights presented staged readings of
short plays to celebrate Pride Month on Monday, June 12, 2023, from 7 to
9 pm. More info here.
Equity
Library Theater of New York/Woodside Players presented "Twelve from
Texas" an afternoon of short monologues by Christopher Woods.
Dramatist, poet,
short story writer, Christopher Woods has a knack that is hard to match for
getting to the heart of a character. Taken from his collection of brief fiction
stories, this cast of loveable unconventional characters are a delight to
meet. “Like streetcars – quaint vehicles – if one missed, there’ll be
another one along in a minute.” William Albright Houston Post Drama
Critic. Watch here.
Now playing online, the Fifth Avenue Theater of New York presents a
virtual performance of (View here) “Tales from The Times - Selections from the
Metropolitan Diary”.
Actors perform short vignettes based on the popular and often
hilarious New York Times Saturday section.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Equity
Library Theater of New York Spring 2023 Virtual Play Festival.
Watch all
selections below.
Winners in
RED!
L'appel
du Vide - Molly Kirschner - Winner - Best Actor(s) TIE
Demon Turkey – Kelly Morgan
- Lallo
UpLyft
– Felix Racelis - Special Mention!
Angelic Intervention –
Barbara Alfaro
Re-in-WHAT?!—Change is Good – Linda Pallotta
Ladies Not Waiting – Riley Yates - Winner -
Best Play TIE
Sorry I'm Late - Dana Hall
– Special Mention!
Sex in the Park – Jack
Rushton
Marriage Counseling –
William Zolla II - Winner - Best Play TIE
The Protest on Ninth Avenue - Jeffrey Ashkin
Smashing Pumpkins – Steven
Carinci
The Mummy Speaks – Cynthia
Morrison - Winner - Best Play TIE
I Guess I Got Good at Hiding
– Josie Parrelli
You Will Not Replace Us –
Denis Meadows
Best Friends - Kareem
McMichael - Special Mention!
Dear Daughter Moon – Lenny
Hort
Socks – Dr. Mary E. Weems
- Winner
- Best Actresses(s) TIE
Just an Illusion: Zipper -
Gretchen C. O’Halloran
Forever and a Day – Jennifer Ju
The Pearl – Donald Falconer
– Best International
Submission!
Life of Shmuel – Ruby
Lowenstein
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Equity Library
Theater of New York presented:
“At Raygar’s”, a new play by John
McCloskey.
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Now Playing! Equity Library Theater of New York
Summer 2022 Virtual Play Festival. Watch all submissions below.
Aaron Leventman – Lovers and Survivors
Amy Engelhardt – The Woods of Exeter
Andy Mayo – The Connection
(Tie - Best Actors)
Barbara Alfaro – The Sirius
Interview
Brandon Fulk
- The Four Horseman
Brian Johnston - Tell It
Like It Is, Mary Louise Brown!, with Maille-Rose Smith. (Tie - Best Actress)
Chris Ferretti – Between A
Rock and Port Authority
Christopher Woods – Salt Mine Exchange
(Special Mention)
Colette Cullen – Everyone’s
Sorry
Ed Friedman – The Price of
Progress
Eloise Coopersmith - My (unauthorized)
Hallmark Movie Musical
Felix Racelis – Love Bomb
(Tie - Best Play)
Fran Handman - The Sticking
Point
Gary Duehr
- Johnny Depp Vs.Amber Heard
Helen Cheng Mao – Stuck in
Limbo (Tie - Best Play)
Jaime Sheedy - The Effect of
Magic on The Death Of Will and Grace (Tie - Best
Actress)
Janis
Butler Holm – Red
Josie Parrelli
- Her Confession
Lenny Hort – A Little
Something About My Powers (Tie - Best Play)
Leticia Arbelo
– Terapéuticas, Lectura dramatizada
Lettuce Eat with Suzanne
Ridgeway – Christmas 2021 (Special Mention)
Marjorie Conn telling a
story by Sophie Virgilio (Special Mention)
Mikki Gillette - We're Just
Talking, Okay?
Phylliss
Shanken – Where is Bunny Boy?
Rex McGregor – Swinging
Campers
Selma Hazouri
– Miss Elizabeth Taylor
Steven Carinci – Who Loves
You, Baby?
Stephen Joseph Olson - The Breakup King (Tie - Best Actor)
Wayne Paul Mattingly -
Anabel, in Barcelona, with Aliona Garcia
Meet our new community
partner! (Below)
Piper Theater in Brooklyn –
Free program for playwrights - Click here.
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Below, watch a virtual
reading of two comedies from the early 20th century; Aunt Maggie’s Will (Mary
Elizabeth Gale, 1910), and The Merediths
Entertain (Whitney Darrow, 1922).
Fifth Avenue Theater
of New York presented a free performance of “More Selections from Spoon River
Anthology” on June 11th at 2pm, in Manhattan at 650 Fifth Avenue (enter on 52nd
Street, down escalator)
Local actors
performed short excerpts from the collection of poems that collectively narrates
the epitaphs of the residents of the town of Spoon River.
With:
Alexis Tandit
Andrew Dinan
Betsy Cruz
Evangeline Johns
Fredda Tourin
Gus Ferrari
Heather Jeanne Violanti
Heather Shore
Janice Kirkel
Joseph Ortiz
Luke Goldthorpe
Marjie Conn
Martha Morenstein
Mathilda Diaz
Stephanie Schwartz
Now
Playing! Equity Library Theater of New York Winter 2022 Virtual Play Festival.
Watch all 40+ submissions here!
Antionette’s
Duck – Wayne Paul Mattingly, Filmed in Spain and Riverdale, NYC
A Milkman’s Serenade – Mark Blickley
(Tie, Best Play)
Curses! Curses! - Elizabeth
Shuler, Performed by Charli Williams
Dakota - Sydnie Belousek, with Ann DellaMonica
Dear Stella
– With Ronnye Halpern, Pam Trester, Susan McQuirk
Email!
– Dana Jaffe (Tie, Best
Monologue)
Enchanted Walhalla Ravine - Farzana Datta
Just a Yellow Cab in New York City – Youlim
Nam
Lincoln’s Birthday – Peggy Terry
Lost Property – Robert Luxford (Tie,
Best Actor)
Out to Pasture – Alison Gilbreath (Tie,
Best Monologue)
Paramour - Rose-Mary
Harrington (Special Mention)
Property is Sacred – Mark Speyer
Rugged Individualism - Terry Smith (Tie,
Best Actor)
Slow
Dating – Adam Szudrich (filmed in New Zealand)
Soul to Squeeze – Meagan J. Meehan (Tie,
Best Play)
Stoned - Scott Carter Cooper
(Tie, Best Play)
Sweet Forgiveness - John
Bettis / Walter Afanasieff
Texual
Abuse - Cindi Sansone-Braff
The
Actor and the Funeral – Jack West
The Best Is Yet to Come –
Nancy Cohen Koan
The
Importance of Being Honest - Brian Johnston
The
Isle Of Wight Festival, Summer 1970 - Annette Perpinan
The Lucky Escape – Eamann Breen (Tie,
Best Actress)
The Time is
Ripe - Pamela Morgan
Two Peds are Stu Peds – S. Joshua Mendel
Waitress! – With Cynthia Gale, Robin Jacobson,
Rebecca Marks
Walmart at Christmas-A Short Play – Marty
Maftess
Wrong Kind of Doctor – Beth Evans, with
Emily Blake, Ben WIllis
(Tie, Best Actress)
You,
Me, and Marie Curie – Mary Crosbie, Jeanine Calleja (Special Mention)
Watch
Here! “In Swirly Letters”, a new play by Johnny Culver.
With Sarah-Ann Rodgers, Phyllis Cox, Bart DeFinna, Tom Morwick, Carolyn Quinn
___________________________________
Past
Event!
Presenting works by and featuring:
Youlim
Nam – “Just a Yellow Cab in NYC”, with Nicole Lehrman, Ananth Padmasola, Dir. Sophia Treanor
Phil Blechman – “Morning Coffee”, with Hayley Palmaer
Marjorie Conn – “Shopping with Magic Morningstar”
Christopher Woods – “The Pink Dress”, with
Danielle Patsakos
Beth Evans - "The Wrong Kind of Doctor",
with Emily Blake, Ben Willis
Tom Padovano – “Reflections”
Nancy Davidoff Kelton - "An Unveiling, a
Date, and a Shrink", with Sharlene Hartman, Angela Madden, Richard Toth
Daniel M. Wolpe –
“Forever Intertwined”, with Andrew Dinan
Emily Blake – “The Window: My Mother, The
Lockdown, and Me"
William Hugel - “You Don’t Want What I Got”, with
Benjamin Willis, Joseph Ortiz
If you have any questions, please contact fifthavenuetheatre@gmail.com.
The Woodside Players of Queens presented their
2021 virtual holiday performance, on Zoom, December 29th @ 7pm EST. Watch here!
“An
evening of short Vaudeville sketches by Harry L. Newton” (b. 1872).
Presenting: An Oyster Stew, When Johnny Comes
Marching Home, The Jumpkins Jumble, Strenuous Mame - the Bowery Girl, Fresh
Timothy Hay, A Jack and His Queen, The Secondhand Man.
Directed by Johnny Culver, Anne Hammond, Shelia
Spencer, Milton Coykendall.
With: Allison Fradkin,
Andrew Dinan, Candy Brown, Carolle U, Cynthia Gale, Gus Ferrari, Helen Yalof,
Joseph Bowen, Marjie Conn, Paul Jones, Regan Carmody, Robin Jacobson, Ronnye
Halpern, Shelia Spencer, Susan Neuffer, Ted Birke.
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Watch
“Daughter!” by David Gold, here. Recorded on
the streets of New York.
October 4th @ 7pm EST, Equity
Library Theater of New York presented a virtual presentation of “Excerpts from
Spoon River Anthology”.
A deluxe recording can be
viewed here.
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Watch here! The Woodside Players of Queens
present short American plays from 1900 to today![CJ1] Recorded August 20, 2021.
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The Equity Library Theater of New York Summer
2021 Virtual Play Festival! Links to over 60 plays/submissions are below.
Winners in Green.
A Bell Tolls – Monte D. Monteleagre
A Cheap Maid in Chasteside – Craig Gustafson
A Soul to Squeeze - Meagan
J. Meehan
Amy in Belgrade – Edmund Wilkinson
Aunt Velma Considers
Changing Religion - John Arnold TIE
BEST ACTRESS
Barricade - Pamela Morgan
TIE BEST PRODUCTION
Bawdy Maudie - Vivian C.
Lermond TIE BEST PLAY
Cassidy’s Mourning – Triza Cox TIE
BEST ACTRESS
Cinderella and the 3 Bear
Witches – Susan Horowitz SPECIAL
MENTION
Dream
Talk – Emma Goldman-Sherman
Emotional Support Canadian –
Amanda Vick
Extremely Right – Glen Dickson
Gentle Warren - Steven
Carinci
Get Out Of
My Head! - Youlim Nam TIE
BEST ACTRESS
Glassblower – Judith Glass
Collins
Hurricane of Love – Maripat Allen
Is My Truth the Lie? - David
T. Anderson
Jamie's Protest - Leonard D.
Goodisman
Life Under the Prairie –
Barbara Anderson TIE BEST
PRODUCTION
Meconium Aspirations - Mark Blickley
Park Bench Domain – John Corins
Plaque Kills - Dana Hall,
performed by John Madison TIE BEST
ACTOR
Prayer To Him - Yulidal Hernandez Kin
Rita - Protective Shield -
Antonia Kleopa
Sarah Franklin for President
- Matt Sanders and Ariel Aliza Sanders
Scan to Begin – Monique
Herbert
Six Impossible Things Before Coronavirus –
Matt Cogswell
Telepathy – Brian Leahy
Doyle, directed by Kevin Michael Morin
The Neighbor - Selma Hazouri - A man remembers a neighbor from the past TIE
BEST PLAY
The Night Watch – Mostyn
Lyndon Farr
The Pink Dress – Christopher
Woods, with Danielle Patsakos SPECIAL
MENTION
The Uninvited – Rose-Mary
Harrington
The Waiter - Claude Clayton
Smith
The Way That Sand Moves –
Rick Davis TIE BEST
ACTOR
Threesome (A Short Pandemic
Musical) - Zuker and Metz SPECIAL
MENTION
That’s All We Got – Logan
Rogers
Tony Defends A Friend – Dana Jaffe
Training Wheels – Michael Hardstark TIE
BEST ACTOR
Una Noche En Tejas: When Beyoncé Met Selena - Kevin Ray TIE
BEST PLAY
Unpack:
Key Moments of Romania’s History in a One-Woman Show - Cătălina
Florescu
Visiting Dad - Marj
O'Neill-Butler, performed by Emma Merritt
What If Science Is Real? –
Judy Klass
Your Town – Donald Steven
Olson
Full length plays performed virtually
from the summer and fall of 2021!
Watch them below and text your favorite to 631 898
4205 - play, actor, actress.
This new play, written and directed by P.H. Lin,
and developed by Cate Cammarata’s Create Theater,
made its online debut as part of Create Theater’s Monday Night Reading Series
on May 17, 2021 at 7pm EDT.
A one-act play by Marc Weiner, Cast: Kimberly J.
Yates, Sean Edward Evans, Jacob Lineberry, Crew: Ira Block, Shravya Kag, Filmed at Playwrights Rehearsal Studios, New York
City.
The Pot Boiler - A
Reimagining (1916) - based on a one-act satire by Alice Gerstenberg
Alice Gerstenberg’s “The
Pot Boiler” is a satire about the pretensions of conventional theater. This
“reimagining” transplants the humor into a modern zoom-age context. Cast: Marty
Goldberg, Ted Birke, Valerie O’Hara, Bill Barry, Perryn Pomatto, Meredith
Sullivan, Sean Buckley, Aleksandar Tasev and Shelia
Spencer – directed by Shelia Spencer.
Jane, a 27-year-old woman with progressive political
views, undergoes brain surgery. The surgery is for the most part a success
except for the fact that she is now, suddenly, a rabid conservative Republican.
How do her loved ones cope with her new political
identity? A comedy that asks the question how much do our political beliefs
shape our lives? Cast: Jane - Brittney McHugh, Jack - Martin Downs, Lauryn -
Andrea Nelson, Bonnie - Vita Carnduff, Ryan - Michael May.
Directed by Vincent Mraz – “I will be working with
senior citizens across Manhattan teaching a virtual sketch comedy writing class
as a 2021
SU-CASA teaching artist.” Runs 80 minutes.
Ghosts From The Well – Jack West
A re-imagined rewriting of Val Burton, Walter DeLeon and Bradford Ropes' 1946 Abbott & Costello comedy
of two people mistaken for traitors during the American Revolutionary War.
Doomed by a curse to be bound to earth forever, their ghosts now haunt a
married couple on Long Island, NY. When an eccentric ghost hunter and his odd,
clairvoyant assistant are brought in to rid the home of the spirits, the ghost
hunter’s mistaken for an old nemesis, there’s a wacky séance - and even bigger
problems. Written by Jack West. Performed by Jack West and Karen Corrado. ©
Jack West. All Rights Reserved.
Godless – Jarrett Winters
Morley
'Godless' is a one act play that delves into the
origins of the human psyche between Adam and Eve, discusses the controversy
surrounding humankind's perception of a higher power, and how each of us
defines faith. Directed By: Jarrett Winters Morley. Cast: Eve: Lauren Curet,
Adam: Jarrett Winters Morley.
This is a reading of the play Garden Party by Judy
Klass, Directed by Alyssa Borg.
The Girl of my Dreams –
Carole Jackson
With Ted Birke, Richard Callender, Laurel
Lockhart, Susan Neuffer. The play follow Kathryn Coleman, a British girl, from
ages 10 to 37. Although her relationships with her father, grandmother, and
husband are important, it's her mother, Myrna, who is the constant in her life
- for better or worse.
Selections from "Trout Day" -
Peggy Terry
With:
Zoe Avery, Terri Bonica, Ted Burke, Andrew Dinan, Jennifer Finger, Ann Morelli,
Martha Morenstein, Tom Morwick, Olivia Rubrum, Alexis Tandit. In this comedy,
the first day of school goes all wrong when a frazzled parent tries to do away
with an mysterious small town tradition.
Mag
and Ryan, best friends since college, confront doom with Zoom, social
distancing with close-up romancing in a pandemic fatigued world.
Boyself/Girlself - Jack Seamus Conley
A pre-transition transmasculine person (Girlself), who is in the early stages of “coming” out
and uncertain of what the future may hold for them, receives a surprise visit
from a future version of their self (Boyself), who
only has foggy memories of the exchange from the “other” side. As they talk
together about everything and nothing, both “selves” learn something unexpected
about who they are collectively. Directed and written by Jack Seamus Conley, and starring Lea Hulsey (Girlself)
and Chase Nuerge (Boyself).
This is my Block - Talara Ruth
Originally
printed in the New York Times Metropolitan Diary, Talara
reminisces about her childhood neighborhood.
All Gummed Up
(Comedy 1921) - Harry Wagstaff Gribble
With
Ted Birke/Valerie O'Hara/Bill Barry/Perryn Pomatto/Maggi Veltre
(dir. Shelia Spencer). Shelia Spencer is savoring the serendipity of finding
old plays, dusting them off and giving them new life and vitality here on Zoom.
She deeply appreciates the talent she is connecting with today - as well as
that from our theatrical past.
The Census - Leonard D.
Goodisman
Directed
by Monica Hoyt. Director of Photography - Zack Bermack.
Cast: Madison Hemings - Ben Baez, Sally Hemings - Yvette Bedgood,
Census Taker - Gabe Girson, Eston Hemings - Cole Mackler.
Hippies, Housewives &
Watering Holes – D. M. Larson
Performed
by Long Island’s Afternoon Delight Players.
America's
Theatre presents Love Restor'd -- a haunted tale, a visitation
in the dark night. Our play features, in order of appearance: Len Bellezza as Tom, Susan Horowitz as Becky, and Donna Wall as
Susan.
Starring
Toni Tennille, Julie Cargill, and Trisha Tracy, “Out to Lunch” opens in a
quaint restaurant where the two main characters discuss their lives, dead
husbands and the couple seated next to them. Gloria and Lillian are lifelong
friends in their seventies. When the young server engages her customers, we are
all left to wonder if ‘Feminism’ is the new “F-Word”. Exploring themes of the
female bond, experience, and life-challenges, “Out to Lunch” rallies.
The Middle Of The Night - Elizabeth Robertson Laytin
With
Danielle Patsakos, Carolle U. Elizabeth is a winner
of a 2016 Frank McCourt Memoir prize for her short story Black Sugar, published
in Vol. X No.2 Summer/Fall 2016 of The Southampton Review. Her novel Come Here Go Away for the young
adult audience is available on kindle, amazon.com, and at Guild Hall in East
Hampton, N.Y. Short stories have also
been published on ducts.org, deadmule.com, and in The East Hampton Star.
Now playing! The Equity Library Theater of New
York Winter 2021 Virtual Play Festival. Links to over 70 performances are
below.
(formatted for desktop
viewing, in alphabetical order).
Winners, based on feedback, in red.
A Mother’s
Story – Patrice Hamilton
A Tale of
Stockbridge – Charles Gross
A Turkey is
NOT a Rooster – Jinna Kim (Tie – Best Play)
Across the
Lake – Johnny Culver
Avoiding Unwanted Pregnancy
-Rom Watson - performed by AnnaLisa Erickson,
Bill W and Jimmy K - Andrew
Matthews (Tie – Best Play)
But Did I
Leave The Oven On? – Jake Alexander (Tie - Best
Actor Team)
Chuckles,
The Clown – David Lloyd
College
Without Walls - Matt Sanders & Ariel Aliza Sanders
External
Monitors - Richard Lyons Conlon
First Baby – Alex Perry
(Tie – Best Play)
Frenchie's Fate - Kannan
Menon
Give Me Something Good to
Eat - John Glass
Going
Up – Joseph Vitale, with Scott Cagney, Gary Glor.
Directed by Will Budnikov
Happy
Funeral Day - David T. Anderson. with: Janice Kirkel,
Alexis Tandit, Carolle U
Harlem
Top To Bottom – Jordan Young (Best Monologue)
How Did
Edward Lose his Accent? -Teddy Alexis Rodriguez, PhD
How to Survive from REMNANTS
– Hank Greenspan
Introducing
My Crazy – Marlo K. Shaw
Last Night
Bluey Died - Sam Affoumado
Mamet Mommies Soccer - Greg
D'Angelo
Millard, Is That You? –
Brian Leahy Doyle
Monologue
from “Illspoken” – Blaire Baron
Morning Coffee – Phil
Blechman
Museum Pieces (Monologue) -
Sherry Chiaroscuro
No Rest for a Soul
- Cindi Sansone-Braff
Phony on a Twig - Rex
McGregor
PhotontheTimesSquareShuttle – Lawrence Rinkel
Remember
Me, Mr. Jones? - Christine Benvenuto
Santa and
Spock – Heidi Mae (Special Mention)
Scoundrel by Monte D.
Monteleagre, directed by Kevin Snyder
Spiritual
Counseling – Jack Rushen
Steely
Resolve – Alan Stoltzer
The Apocalypse Is Here But Where's The Iron – Daniel McKamey
The Ballad Of Leslie - Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend
The
Campaign – Hannah Williams
The Carpet Washers – Jack
West
The
Galloping Gourmet, based on The Lying Valet, by David Garrick
The Line Up
in the Time of Covid – Barbara Litt
Thomas,
Thomas – Leonard D. Goodisman
This Is My
Block, Part Two- Talara Ruth, with Anne Morelli
Two Ply –
Chef Rossi (Special Mention)
Unpack -Catalina Florina
Florescu
WABI SABI -
Rachael Carnes - Directed by Andra Hunter With Zoe
Margolis, Max Gallagher (Tie - Best Actor Team)
Well and On My Own - Ellen
C. Scherer
What’s in a
Name – Lee Franklin
Wise Old
Owl: A Trilogy – Phyliss Shanken
Without
Whom None of This Would’ve Been Possible - Kevin J. Miller
Zoom Mom – Greg Abbott
(Special Mention)
The Woodside Players of New York City 2021 winter season. One act plays*, some from over 100 years ago, performed virtually.
Watch them below!
(thanks to Shelia
Spencer and her actors)
Finders
Keepers – George Kelly – 1923 - Directed by Kevin Snyder
Suppressed Desires –
Susan Glaspell – 1914 - dir. by Shelia Spencer, with Hannah Abney, Farah
Diaz-Tello & Jacob Lineberry (over 1000 views)
Tickless
Time - by Susan Glaspell and George Cram Cook - 1918 - directed by Shelia
Spencer
Sham - Frank G. Tompkins -
1920
The
Angel Intrudes – Floyd Dell – 1918
Illuminati in Drama Libre- Alice
Gerstenberg – 1922
Attuned
– Alice Gerstenberg – 1922 - with Shelia Spencer
*all
free to read on Google Books.
__________________________________________________________
Past
Event!
Over
thirty-five short plays.
Fifth
Avenue Theatre of New York Virtual Fall 2020 Play Festival
Winners
in red!
E Minor Seventh – Timothy Nolan
(Special
Mention)
Siggy & Dolph at the Klaustenauer
Cafe - by Fred Crecca
Shana The She-Pirate – Emily Battles
Coyotes – Steven Carinci
(Best
Play – tie)
Throne
of the Third Heaven - Philip Reissman
Glasses
– Barry M. Putt Jr. with Allison Fradkin (Best
Monologue – tie)
Who Let The Dogs
Out? – Marian Rosin
Barren Landscape – Steve Gold (Best
actress – Alexis Tandit)
Wounded
Birds - Elaine Kuracina
Deeds Not Words - Rose-Mary Harrington
(Performer
Diana Kyle and Technical Director,
Elizabeth Gordon)
Lyre On The
Floor – Jackson Montana
The Waiting Place - Michael Cunningham,
with Regina Yeager (Special
Mention)
Invisible Foe -
Michele A Miller, PhD
Confessions:
The Hours - Natascha Graham (Best Monologue – tie)
The
Wiggle Room – George D. Morgan
How
I Spent My Quarantine – Ellen Abrams
It's
Not Haunted Real Estate - Sarah Congress (Best
Effects)
My
Turkey Redeemer Liveth – Loretta Wish (Best
acting duo)
Fred
the Projectionist – Fred Pflantzer
Where For Art Thou, Dougnuts
– Michelle Glusto (Best Play
– tie)
Smarter
than You - Richard Bonte
Occupied
Countries - Jack Rushton
Tell Me
How I Did – Justin McDevitt
The United States of Huevos - Tavi Juárez & Stephen Tsimpides (Best Play
– tie)
Frank and Rachel – Nancy Temple
_________________________________________________
In
October 2020, Equity
Library Theater and the Instant Shakespeare Company presented a reading of
“Catherine and Petruchio” by David Garrick. Click here to watch.
Equity
Library Theater of New York presents a reading of a full
length new play:
The
play is based on a book written by American author, Charles Brockden Brown (publ. in 2 vols.1798 & 1815). It
consists of a dialogue between Edwin Alcuin, a Quaker schoolmaster, and Mrs.
Carter, a widow, in Philadelphia in 1798. Alcuin
and Mrs. Carter argue about women's lack of voting rights, their need for
financial independence, and their inadequate access to education and employment
opportunities. Mrs. Carter speaks for all women, sharing her insights about
marriage and divorce as well as politics. As the two debate these issues, they
become friends and, eventually, lovers. The plot includes a remarkable sequence
in which Alcuin travels to a future utopia, The Paradise of Women, where men
and women are equals and where the word "marriage" does not exist.
Though their conversations are serious, there are many light moments and a subtle
romantic subtext.
Caterina Nonis is a director, theatre maker and actor from
Milan, now based in New York. She has collaborated with Page 73, The Habitat,
The InHEIRitance Project, NYMadness,
Shotz! Amios, Theatre East,
KIT, Stella Adler, Modern Shakespeare Project, Match:Lit, among others. At the Venice
Biennale, she studied different approaches to theatre making with directors
Thom Luz and Jakop Ahlbom.
She is an artistic associate of The InHEIRitance
Project, and an SDCF Observership 18/19 Class member.
BFA: NYU Tisch, Stella Adler & RADA. www.caterinanonis.com.
California
native, Dean Linnard is a New York
based AEA actor, singer, solo-performer, and puppeteer. He studied at NYU’s
Tisch School of the Arts, the Stella Adler Studio of Acting and the Royal
Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Since then, he has been
associated with a number of outstanding theater
companies, such as the Portland Playhouse, Vermont Shakespeare Company, and New
Orleans Fringe Festival. Though he specializes in classical material, his
projects have ranged from Shakespeare to experimental performance art, from
children’s theater to Off-Broadway. In 2011, he developed a one-man
adaptation of Hamlet which he performed as a benefit for Young Actors
Workshop in California and as part of Manhattan Repertory Theatre’s New Work
series. He is a Teaching Artist for Broadway.com’s
Broadway Classroom Series. www.deanlinnard.com.
Carolyn Balducci’s publications include fiction &
non-fiction books, articles & reviews as well as translations and poetry.
Her plays include adaptations/translations of
Aristophanes’ Lysistrata; Renaissance comedies, La
Calandra and La Veniexiana; contemporary
Italian comedies; Alcuin: A Fierce & Elegant Plea for the Rights of
Women; and Chekhov in the Hamptons. Original works include Maestro:Pirandello as Recalled by
Ms. Marta Abba; and Giovanni the Fearless, a commedia dell'arte
musical (book and lyrics by Carolyn Balducci; music composed by Mira
J. Spektor). She is a member of the Dramatists’
Guild, BMI and NYWIFT.
___________________________________________________________
Past
event!
“Five on
Fifth – 2020 Summer Play Festival”, Fifth Avenue Theater presents video
recordings of short plays by local writers! Click below to watch.
“Goth Principal: A Hunted
Man” By Alaina Hammond
Starring
Isaac Scranton as Jonny/Gothman
and
Alaina Hammond as Belinda.
“Waitress!”
with Shelia Spence, Alexis Tandit,
Regina Yeager.
“Generation Love” by Nick Bompart.
“Promises”,
by Shirley King, with Julia Genoveva.
“In The
Clair De Lune” - An Online Play, by JB Bruno.
(voted best play)
“All Kinds of Skin” – by Victoria Lau
_____________________________________________
Past
event!
The Woodside Players of Queens Summer 2020 Play
Festival. Short plays by local writers in a virtual setting. Click below to
watch!
Baby
Bird On the Isle of Corona written by Rossi (aka Chef Rossi)
with
Celeste Ciulla, Rossi and Charmaine Broad
The
Seal Wife – by Michael Cunningham
(special
mention)
Just a Little Mistake - by Mary Elizabeth Gale
Virgins – by Scott C. Sickles, with Elizabeth Carlsen and Kinga Nowak
The
Effect of Magic on The Death Of Will and Grace – by Jaime Sheedy, directed by D.A.G Burgos
(voted best
performer)
Anonymous
Recipes - by Dane Rooney (voted
best play)
Past
event!
Equity
Library Theater’s Summer 2020 Virtual Play Festival.
Twenty
plays, and links to the performances are below!
The Dead Game, by Lisa Stratton, with Regina Yeager and Alexis Tandit
What Are You
Hiding? – by Elizabeth Shannon and Morgan
Southwell
Virgins – by Scott C. Sickles, with Reanna Armellino
and Shay Wisniewski