March 2-11, NYC:
At Sea, ANDTheatre Company's Eclectic Evening of Shorts: Boxers & Briefs. Directed by Kathe Mull. Eight performances: March 2 at 7, March 3 at 3 and 7, March 4 at 6, March 8 at 9, March 9 at 7,  March 10 at 9,  March 11 at 2. Theatre 54 @ Shetler Studios, 244 West 54th Street, 12th Floor.

Two of my short plays for mature performers, Pen Pals and Senior Cruise, will be presented in staged readings by the Abbey Theater of Dublin (Ohio) on March 11th at 3:00 p.m. and March 12th at noon; the audience on March 12th will enjoy a buffet luncheon with the plays.

Directed by Michael Schirtzinger, Theater Director at the Dublin Recreation and Parks Center, performers include Lloyd and Grace Casey, Daneen Axelrod, Jim Monsul, Rennie Beetham, Peggy Miller, Judy Fairchild-Rizor, Sharyn Shannon, and Elaine Coughlin.  The theatre is in the Recreation Center at 5600 Post Road in Dublin (the one in Ohio).  Admission is free.

Pen Pals depicts a couple in their late 70s who’ve been pen pals since the second grade meeting in person for the first time.  They’re joined by classmates who’ve followed their communication via social media.  Senior Cruise follows a group of older folks on what turns out to be a very inexpensive cruise throughout the Caribbean and includes several people mourning loss of life partners, a censorious prude on the watch for any sort of lascivious behavior or appearances, a wise bar tender, and an entertainer constantly performing on the accordian with no discernable musical talent.

A comedy about theater critics gathering for their annual luncheon to vote on awards. But will they devour each other before all the votes are cast?

One of 10 plays by 10 Dallas-area playwrights to get staged readings this weekend as part of Imprint Theatreworks' inaugural First Impressions Festival.

Bath House Cultural Center, 521 E. Lawther, Dallas TX 75218. Tickets $10 get you four plays from 2 p.m. (mine! on Sat/Feb 24) until 10 p.m. Stay for one or all!

On February 23 at 7 pm, HOWL! HAPPENING gallery & performance space is presenting a 2-hour version of ICWP member Melba LaRose's mega-project, "AFTER THE WALL."  This has been a project at least 5 years in the making and I would LOVE to see my sister-supporters there.

The full-length 8-hour epic is booked for SynerFest in Valencia, Spain, in October.

A multicultural, multidisciplinary, multidimensional, multimedia extravaganza, this play takes the audience on a wild ride through history, exploring the walls that divide us.  Its aim is to "start the conversation."

You will laugh, you will cry, you will learn, you will be inspired -- you might even get up and dance!

This is a benefit for the Actors Fund at $10/ ticket, with 100% of proceeds going to the Fund in support of East Village artists.  Seating limited.  Reservation info on FB link (Brownpapertickets).

For complete information, visit:

https://www.facebook.com/events/128954927919958/

and/ or the project website at www.afterthewall.org.  The company website is:  www.nyartists.org.

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

xxoo
Melba
NY Artists Unlimited

Melba@NYartists.org

Director@afterthewall.org

Melbalarose@gmail.com

"Flying Out Loud" is a monthly forum for readings of new plays, poetry, and fiction at Sunergos Coffee Shop, 2122 Preston, Louisville Kentucky.

I was invited to write a play for the February gathering. Since it's shortly before Valentine Day, I wrote a comedy about two lovebirds -- real lovebirds -- after doing a lot of research about their habits. 

Two terrific actors I've worked with before will portray the birds. The story: Neither Ruby nor Max has found “the one” yet, but their parents have arranged a meeting in hopes two will become a couple.

Admission is free.

Location: The Playroom Theater; 151 W 46th St.; 8th Fl.; Between 6th & 7th Aves.

Sat. Feb 10th - 7PM

Sun Feb 11th - 3PM

$30.00

Panther Woman is a work of historical fiction chronicling one woman's experience in The Original Black Panther Party for Self Defense.

Prepare to embark on an unforgettable journey from the Jim Crow South to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s through a tale of struggle, love and hope for the future.

www.pantherwomantheplay.com or 800.838.3006 for tickets.

A steampunk production of ICWP member Patricia Milton's play, "Aşk, İlaçlar ve Yan Etkileri - Forte," will be performed in Istanbul February 3. This is the second year the play has been presented in Istanbul. It's a Turkish-language adaptation of Milton's post-apocalyptic romantic comedy, "Believers," inspired by the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, "The Frog King."

Tickets: http://www.biletix.com/etkinlik-grup/135243656/TURKIYE/tr

Patricia Milton's world premiere comedy, Bamboozled, opens Saturday, February 17, 2018, at Central Works in Berkeley, continuing through Sunday, March 18.

Thu-Sat at 8 pm. Sun at 5 pm. (All Thursdays are pay-what-u-can at the door for available tickets. Sliding scale, from $15, for all other performances.)

Bamboozled is a comedy that pits North against South against West, as four women grapple with a fraud involving Civil War heirlooms. Who put the "con" in "Confederate?" Who bamboozled whom? And what do we really value, and what does that cost us? The show is ripped from the headlines, as the Civil War continues to simmer in the USA, even today.

You can buy your tickets here.

 Boy meets girl. Nation meets metaphor.

The Melting Pot, a remix for the stage by Carol S. Lashof, will receive a staged reading in Oakland, California on January 20, 2018.

• January 20, 2018: Staged Reading, Those Women Productions, Oakland, CA.

Performances 4 pm and 8 pm at the Temescal Art Center, 511 48th St, Oakland. Tickets are free but advance reservations are strongly recommended as the venue is small:   https://themeltingpot.brownpapertickets.com/

The Melting Pot remixes early 20th century sources, including Israel Zangwill’s wildly popular melodrama of the same name, to tell a quintessentially American love story – Boy meets Girl, and Nation meets Metaphor. It was presented as a developmental reading at PCSF in October 2017.

The reading will be directed by Those Women Productions' Artistic Director Elizabeth Vega and will feature original music by Berkeley jazz musician and composer Erika Oba, performed by Debbie Carton and Audrey Ronningen. The cast includes TWP Associate Artists Lily Tung Crystal* and Norman Patrick Johnson as well as Grace Liu, Roberta Morris, Jack Nicolaus, Sydney Schwindt, Louel Senores, and Charles Winter.*

*Member, Actors’ Equity Association.