Susanna Gellert, executive artistic director of Weston Playhouse Theatre Company, announced last week the debut of Weston Writers, the flagship project of Weston's reimagined 2020 season.
This new works initiative builds on Weston's long history of supporting playwrights and musical theater writers through retreats, workshops, the annual Weston-Ghostlight New Musical Award, and world premieres on the Weston stages.
To inaugurate the next era of new works development in Weston, they are introducing a series of projects, beginning this summer. They include:
• One Room, which explores the events of this year by looking at our homes as spaces of possibility and creativity. In May, they commissioned 15 of America's leading playwrights to create 5-minute, one person plays that respond to the present moment and explore the questions, “What makes a home? What stories might be hiding in its ordinary rooms?”
Writers will be joined by actors and directors from across the country and each play will be recorded to premiere online on Aug. 7. For local viewers, their restaurant partner MKT: Grafton will offer pre-order takeout dinner and beverage options, available for pickup in Weston on the night of the premiere presentation.
• Songs for Today, which invites Weston's family of musical theater writers to talk to patrons in song about the stories they want to tell today.
Composers who have previously worked in Weston will create and record original songs that capture this unprecedented moment when all are invited to care and connect. Songs for Today will be an ongoing series commencing later this summer.
• Postcard Plays, a multi-media exploration of story and form. Commissioned writers will receive a picture-postcard of a rural American image and be asked to respond with a playscript that fits within the card's 4 x 6 inch structure.
The postcards feature photography by Skye Chalmers. The resulting plays will be performed at the theater once it is able to open, and the postcards will be available for purchase. Postcard Plays will premiere this fall.
• Additionally, Weston Playhouse presents Beyond the Fourth Wall, a smart and entertaining educational series featuring interviews, discussions, and special guest appearances.