Download Four Squared: A Collaborative Theater Project

For Immediate Release, April 16, 2014
Contact: David Kuehn, Executive Director
Cotuit Center for the Arts
Phone: (508) 428-0669
Email: [email protected]
Website: ArtsOnTheCape.org
Four Squared: A Collaborative Theater Project
Inaugural reading to take place May 5, 2014
With generous support from the Kaplan Foundation, a new collaboration designed to present four
original plays by four local playwrights over the course of one year kicks off the first event on May 5
at 7:30pm. Theater partners include Cotuit Center for the Arts, Harwich Junior Theatre, Provincetown
Theater, and Woods Hole Theater Company.
Featured playwrights are Bronwen Prosser (Cotuit Center for the Arts), Susan Kosoff (Harwich Junior
Theatre), Candace Perry (Provincetown Theater), and Joe Richards (Woods Hole Theater Company).
The program is designed so that each playwright will present a play in development in the form of a
reading, simultaneously in four different theaters from one end of the Cape to the other. Each
season the playwright and play with rotate between the four venues. Admission is free and the
series promises to give audiences a unique insight to the creative process of developing a work for
the stage. A festival of all four plays will be scheduled at the completion of the cycle.
Schedule of events:
May 5, 2014
Cotuit Center for the Arts presents Face East by Bronwen Prosser
Harwich Junior Theatre presents Conversations: Six by Six by Susan Kosoff
Provincetown Theater presents Along the River Road by Candace Perry
Woods Hole Theater Company presents Dog Stories by Joe Richards
September 8, 2014
Woods Hole Theater Company presents Face East by Bronwen Prosser
Cotuit Center for the Arts presents Conversations: Six by Six by Susan Kosoff
Harwich Junior Theatre presents Along the River Road by Candace Perry
Provincetown Theater presents Dog Stories by Joe Richards
November 3, 2014
Provincetown Theater presents Face East by Bronwen Prosser
Woods Hole Theater Company presents Conversations: Six by Six by Susan Kosoff
Cotuit Center for the Arts presents Along the River Road by Candace Perry
Harwich Junior Theatre presents Dog Stories by Joe Richards
February 2, 2015
Harwich Junior Theatre presents Face East by Bronwen Prosser
Provincetown Theater presents Conversations: Six by Six by Susan Kosoff
Woods Hole Theater Company presents Along the River Road by Candace Perry
Cotuit Center for the Arts presents Dog Stories by Joe Richards
April, 2015 (Date TBD)
Cotuit Center for the Arts presents Face East by Bronwen Prosser
Harwich Junior Theatre presents Conversations: Six by Six by Susan Kosoff
Provincetown Theater presents Along the River Road by Candace Perry
Woods Hole Theater Company presents Dog Stories by Joe Richards
(Dates subject to change). A festival of all four plays will be scheduled at the completion of the cycle.
About the playwrights:
Susan Kosoff got her start in theatre at the Harwich Junior Theatre, mentored by Betty Bobp. She is
the founder and long-time producer of Wheelock Family Theatre; professor emerita of theatre and
education at Wheelock College, where she continues to teach for the Center for International
Programs and Partnerships; and a member of the board of StageSource, New England’s alliance for
theatre artists and producers. She has written several plays, many of which have been produced at
theatres around the country. Among her recent ten-minute plays, Waiting for Gretchen appears in
the Boston Theater Marathon XI 2009 Anthology. Other writing for the theatre includes The Young
Actor’s Book of Improvisation, A Little Princess, Let There Be Light, O Happy Day, and The Beanstalk,
the Giant, and Jack. Susan has directed numerous plays. Among her favorites are Lord of the Flies,
Inherit the Wind, The Crucible, Holes, and A Tale of Two Cities.
Candace Perry is a writer, activist, and social worker who holds the audacious hope that her plays
might change the world. She’s written three full-length plays and thirty short plays. Her full-length
play, Meridian Summer, received the 2007 Cape Cod Playwrights/Kaplan Prize. Her short plays have
been developed with the Provincetown Theater and many have also been produced by other
companies/competitions, including the Boston Theater Marathon, New Orleans Tennessee Williams
Festival, Women’s International Theater Festival (Provincetown), Double Take Fringe Festival
(Greenfield, MA), Theatre Southwest (Houston, TX), and Heartland Theatre Company (Normal,
IL). For several years she’s taught a community education class on writing the short play. She’s a
member of the Provincetown Theater’s Playwrights’ Lab and the Dramatists Guild. More information
is available on her website, www.candaceperryplaywright.com.
Bronwen Prosser is a Cape Cod native, actor, and playwright who graduated from New York's
Atlantic Acting School. Her hit one-woman show The Make-Out Queen was raucously applauded by
New York and Cape Cod critics alike. She is currently co-writing a new play in tandem with Edward
Albee fellow Danny Mitarotondo. Bronwen has been awarded best actress for her role in Lisa
Robinson's film Breaker, and was a founding member of the New York theatre company, The
Common Tongue, as well as of the Cape Cod burlesque troupe, The Brazen Belles. She has been an
active participant at the Cotuit Center for the Arts, recently directing Boston Marriage, and is thrilled
and honored to create work with her Cape community in this new playwrights’ series.
www.bronwenprosser.com
Joe Richards has been involved with theater for over thirty years as an actor, puppeteer, and
director. He has worked primarily with Theatre on the Bay, Woods Hole Theater Company, and Cotuit
Center for the Arts. Much of his work was been with the late Edward Gorey
as one of a core group of actors, puppeteers, and collaborators.
From the Presenters:
“The Kaplan Foundation has supported our black box theater from its inception a few years ago.
Since then we’ve been brainstorming a collaboration that would result in new plays presented Capewide in an unusual and interesting way. I’m thrilled we are moving forward with this innovative
idea,” says David Kuehn, Executive Director of Cotuit Center for the Arts.
David Kaplan, Kaplan Foundation President and Executive Director of the Cape & Islands Theater
Coalition added, “I was very impressed with the Four Squared concept when David Kuehn first
proposed it to me. The program supports the objectives of both the Foundation and the Coalition to
nurture theater arts and promote collaboration among our region’s theaters, thus helping to
continue the Cape and Island’s long tradition of theatrical excellence.”
“HJT is thrilled to collaborate with the illustrious David Kuehn and Cotuit Center of the Arts,
Provincetown Theater Company, and Woods Hole Theater Company in the genesis of four new plays
by four Cape playwrights,” says Nina Schuessler, Producing Artistic Director of Harwich Junior
Theatre. “We welcome Susan Kosoff back into the HJT fold as resident playwright after her successful
reign as founding Producing Artistic Director of Wheelock Family Theater.”
Don Dutton, President of the Woods Hole Theater Company, says “We are delighted to be involved in
4 Squared. In this, our fortieth year of providing theater at affordable prices, we are happy to be
involved in this collaboration with other companies across the Cape. We appreciate the good work of
Cotuit Center for the Arts in obtaining initial funds for the project, and are most grateful to the
Kaplan Foundation for its support.”
“PTF feels honored to be a part of this group of esteemed theaters throughout the Cape. Reaching a
Capewide audience is a dream come true for so many playwrights -- we feel fortunate to have
Candace Perry, a long-time member of our Playwright’s Lab, to represent us. Thank you to Cotuit
Center for the Arts for reaching all the way out to the tip of the Cape and to the Kaplan Foundation
for its enormous support of the arts and our many visions. We are humbled by the brilliance of the
talent on Cape Cod,” says Sunie Pope, Production Coordinator of the Provincetown Theater.
For publicity images, visit the press room at ArtsOnTheCape.org
Cotuit Center for the Arts is at 4404 Route 28 in Cotuit. For more information, visit artsonthecape.org
or call 508-428-0669.
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