Download For Immediate Release, February 13, 2014 Contact: David Kuehn

For Immediate Release, February 13, 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
With generous support from the Kaplan Foundation, Cotuit Center for the Arts announces a new
collaboration designed to workshop four original plays by four local playwrights over the course of
one year. Theater partners include Cotuit Center for the Arts, Harwich Junior Theatre, Provincetown
Theater, and Woods Hole Theatre Company.
Each work will be presented in staged readings four times, once each season over the course of a
year, in four venues from the upper Cape to the lower Cape, reaching four different audiences. The
partners each invited a local playwright and asked that they pen a new full length play for up to six
actors. Readings will take place in the four theaters simultaneously, the first with each playwright in
the “home” of their presenter, then rotating between the four venues. Dates of the performances
are scheduled for May 5, August 4, November 3, 2014; and February 2, 2015 (Dates subject to
change). A festival of all four plays will be scheduled at the completion of the cycle.
Featured playwrights are Bronwen Prosser (Cotuit Center for the Arts), Susan Kosoff (Harwich Junior
Theatre), Candace Perry (Provincetown Theater) and Joe Richards (Woods Hole Theatre Company).
“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 Theatre in the genesis of 4 new plays by 4 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 such esteemed theaters throughout the Cape. Reaching a
Capewide audience is a dream come true to so many playwrights, we feel fortunate to be
highlighting 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 in 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.
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 many plays, 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 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 playwright's 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 Co., and Cotuit
Center for the Arts. Much of his work has been with the late Edward Gorey
as one of a core group of actors, puppeteers, and collaborators.
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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