Criticism comes from some unexpected places when you’re a playwright attempting to star in your own play. That much is true for New York playwright Sam Forman, whose play The Rise and Fall of Annie Hall opened in preview last night at the Vineyard Playhouse (official opening night is Saturday). He’s seen the central role of Henry played by others in the three years since the play was written, and he has heard the actors lodge lighthearted complaints about the challenges posed by the dialogue. But before now, he’s never experienced it firsthand.
In Asking for It, a one-woman play written and performed this weekend at the Yard by Joanna Rush, young Bernadette O’Connell, former Outstanding Catholic of the Year, puts her religious vocation on hold and follows her fierce libido, but her sexual miseducation leaves her vulnerable to the twisted testosterone-filled world of her new life in the Big Apple.
The Vineyard Playhouse continues its Shakespeare-out-of-doors tradition this summer by presenting an all time audience favorite, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This production opened on July 15 and runs through August 15 at the Tisbury Amphitheatre at the Tashmoo Overlook on State Road in Vineyard Haven. Performances are Wednesdays through Saturdays at 5 p.m. plus Sunday August 15 at 5 p.m.
Fury of the Ferry
A staged reading of The Sound and the Ferry, a new play by Says You! regular and Island seasonal resident Arnie Reisman, is the Monday Night Special for this week, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Monday, July 26, at the Vineyard Playhouse on Church street in downtown Vineyard Haven.
It takes place, of course, on the Vineyard, where the ferry arrives in May, 1974 and leaves in October 2001. Some of the same folks are still on it. There is terror in the air. Sharks are still in the water. This is a comedy!
Kids’ Drama Workshop
Phyllis Vecchia Creative Drama will be holding a summer workshop for children four-and-a-half to nine years old at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School summer camp program. It will begin Monday, July 26, through Friday, July 30, daily from 9 to 11 a.m.
Each class will consist of theatre warmups, acting out a folktale or story tale, reading of the story, dressing up in costumes, putting on a performance, puppet play and theatre games. In the last class there will be a short performance for the parents.
Musical to Put You Under a Spell
Spellcheck is for wussies. Plus it’s boring. A right answer every time. Where’s the drama in that? How about backing away from the keyboard and heading to where the real action is, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Starting July 22 and continuing through August 8, this Tony Award winning musical will be moving into the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven, courtesy of the Island Theatre Workshop.