Playwright Festival begins next week!

Seaside Rep · 09-28-2009, 10:31 AM

Seaside Rep’s Playwright Festival begins Wednesday, October 7

Nobel Prize winning playwright Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming is Featured Production

Seaside, FL – The Seaside Repertory Theatre’s 9th annual Autumn Playwright Festival will celebrate the brilliant career of Harold Pinter, and will feature the playwright’s multiple Tony Award-winning drama The Homecoming. The Festival will take place October 7-17, and activities will include the main stage production, receptions, panel discussions, a movie screening, play readings, and a radio play broadcast on 30-A Radio. The production will take place in Seaside’s Meeting Hall Theatre, and the other activities will occur in various locations on Scenic Highway 30-A. For more information on the festival, and to order tickets, visit www.seasiderep.org.

One of the most important English playwrights of the last half of the 20th century and the most influential of his generation, Harold Pinter wrote what have been called “comedies of menace.” Using apparently commonplace characters and settings, he invests his plays with an atmosphere of fear, horror, and mystery. His austere language is extremely distinctive, as is the ominous unease it provokes, and he possibly the only writer to have both an adjective (Pinteresque) and a dramatic device (The Pinter Pause) named after him and his unique style. He has won many prestigious honors, the crowning of which was the 2005 Nobel Prize in Literature.

First published in 1965, the original Broadway production of The Homecoming won the 1967 Tony Award for Best Play and its 40th-anniversary Broadway production at the Cort Theatre was nominated for a 2008 Tony Award for "Best Revival of a Play." Set in North London, The Homecoming is the story of an expatriate philosophy professor who returns home to introduce his wife of several years to his working-class family. What transpires is the subject of much debate among scholars and dramatists, but the actual sequence of events is of less importance than the fascinating interplay between the characters, which is at times hilarious, menacing, and absurd.

The Homecoming is directed by Rep Founding Executive Director Craige Hoover and will star Rep veterans Anne Marie Carroll, Bruce Collier, David Ebert, Don Goodrum, Dustin Harding, and Brook Stetler. Mary Kay Samouce will once again design the set.

“This is truly one of the great plays of the last half-century, written by one of the most influential and important playwright’s of all time,” says director Craige Hoover. “The characters are all so wonderfully quirky, and this cast might be the best we’ve ever assembled.

In addition to the Homecoming, the festival will also includes a Sunday Brunch with Pinter, as well as a broadcast of a two of Pinter’s radio plays on 30A Radio. The Brunch will be held the Great Southern Café in Seaside at 11am on Sunday October 11. Actors will read selections from Pinter’s enormous canon of plays, short stories and essays, and Rep Artistic Director Craige Hoover will be on hand to discuss the life and influences of Pinter to modern dramatic literature. Tickets to the Brunch are $29 and can be reserved by emailing the theatre at info@seasiderep.org or by calling the box office at 850-231-0733. The Radio broadcast will occur on Monday October 8 at 8pm, and can be heard locally by tuning to 107.1FM, and online at www.30aradio.org.

The 2009 Rep season has been sponsored by Pizitz Home and the Cottage Rental Agency. The Autumn Playwright Festival is an Autumn Tides signature event. For more information on Autumn Tides, visit Northwest Florida Beach Vacation Guide - Beaches of South Walton

Seaside Rep · 09-28-2009, 11:19 AM

Thursday, October 8 is pay what you can night at the Homecoming... So if normal ticket prices are too steep (or too low), come on Thursday athe 8th and see the show for whatever you feel like paying....

Call the box office to make reservations at 231-0733

jdarg · 09-29-2009, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seaside Rep

Thursday, October 8 is pay what you can night at the Homecoming... So if normal ticket prices are too steep (or too low), come on Thursday athe 8th and see the show for whatever you feel like paying....

Call the box office to make reservations at 231-0733

What a great idea- let's pack the house

Check out the cast list- some great locals make a return to the Rep stage- and you have seen them around town~ Bruce Collier, editor of the DeFuniak Herald/Beach Breeze, and Don Goodrum, drama teacher at South Walton High School. I am looking forward to seeing them both on stage, as well as David Ebert, Anne Marie Carrol, Brook Stetler, wonderful actors who have made South Walton their home since coming here to act at the Rep, and Dustin Harding, last here for the summer 2008 season.

Jennifer Steele Saunders · 09-29-2009, 04:16 PM

Really looking forward to seeing this show!

jdarg · 10-05-2009, 08:26 AM

Opens Wednesday!

for more info and tickets, go to Seaside Repertory Theatre

And thanks to everyone that stopped by the Rep table at the Seaside Yard Sale- hope to see you at the theatre this week or next!

Topsail Transplant · 10-05-2009, 09:24 AM

I hope to be able to go this weekend

. I agree with jdarg what a cool concept for the 8th

. I think it says something about a community whan you can actually do that and not have people take advantage of it. See ya there!!

hoover_rc · 10-05-2009, 10:58 AM

Its been a great rehearsal process... here are some photos... Hope to see you all over the next two weeks at the Rep!

jdarg · 10-05-2009, 11:31 AM

Beautiful set- thanks to Mary Kay Samouce and her magic- and Rapunzel, who helped with set painting (and learned so new faux painting skills-hope she shares!).

RepComic · 10-06-2009, 09:54 AM

Bump!

Call 850-231-0733 or visit www.seasiderep.org to buy your tickets!

jdarg · 10-07-2009, 06:06 AM

Report from last night's final dress rehearsal- the show is "really really great".

Sounds like it got the Seaside Rep Intern Seal of Approval!

We are looking forward to opening night tonight (heck, who am I kidding- we look forward to every opening night!)- break a leg!

Smiling JOe · 10-07-2009, 11:49 AM

woo-hoo. Love the sideburns on Brook

hoover_rc · 10-07-2009, 02:03 PM

"Pinter did what Auden said a poet should do. He cleaned the gutters of the English language, so that it ever afterwards flowed more easily and more cleanly. ...The essence of his singular appeal is that you sit down to every play he writes in certain expectation of the unexpected. In sum, this tribute from one writer to another: you never know what the hell's coming next."

David Hare in Harold Pinter:A Celebration

John R · 10-07-2009, 03:45 PM

See you there!!

jdarg · 10-08-2009, 06:23 AM

There are 3 nights left this week to see The Homecoming, and 4 nights next week. That is it. And after seeing the show last night, if you love excellent theatre, you really want to see this show.

Many people know the Rep through the summer kids shows at Seaside and Watercolor, or have seen the summer main stage comedies or one of the more well-known plays or musicals, or have attended one of the non-theatre events. A show like The Homecoming is like an extra piece of candy for theatre lovers- it is hard to believe that in a community this size, we have a professional theatre that can bring us the kind of quality theatre that you would expect to see only in big cities.

The Rep's Executive Director, Craige Hoover, truly hit a home run with this show- from the choice of play to the direction of the show. Every actor was perfect in their role- in fact, these were the kind of roles that when you see these people in the future, you will always think of them in this show- they are all that memorable. The set looks awesome- it is always so interesting to see how that little black box theatre gets transformed into another world.

The Homecoming is fascinating and powerful, and watching the play and participating in the after show discussion made me want to learn more about Harold Pinter and his life and work! Of course I plan on starting my "study" at Brunch with Pinter on Sunday at Great Southern, and the radio show on 30a Radio on Monday night!

Tonight (10/8) is "pay what you can" night"! Please come experience the Playwright Festival- but you will need to call and reserve tickets at 231-0733 or Seaside Repertory Theatre.

I hope the SoWal community is proud to have such quality arts entertainment and cultural opportunity! We saw lots of familiar faces at the theatre last night, and new ones too!

P.S. David Ebert has some VERY interesting sideburns/beard thing going on- stop in at Amavida and tell David that you love the look.

Smiling JOe · 10-08-2009, 09:08 AM

Oops. I thought that was Brook with the sideburns.

jdarg · 10-08-2009, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smiling JOe

Oops. I thought that was Brook with the sideburns.

He has them too, but nothing like the facial hair pattern that David has going.

hoover_rc · 10-08-2009, 04:12 PM

pay whatever you like night at the Rep... Seriously... pay whatever you like, but come see this show... it is unlike anything you will ever see in your life, I promise...

jdarg · 10-08-2009, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hoover_rc

pay whatever you like night at the Rep... Seriously... pay whatever you like, but come see this show... it is unlike anything you will ever see in your life, I promise...

In a good way.

Break legs, night #2! It will be great energy tonight.....

RepComic · 10-09-2009, 11:40 AM

Call and reserve your tickets to this awesome show! 850-231-0733

Stick around after the show Friday and Saturday to watch some improv comedy! This weekend David and I are doing a new two man improv show called "Understaffed"

Be there!

Hop · 10-09-2009, 10:35 PM

Great show! Bravo Rep! That was just funn to watch. I always love Mary Kay's sets too.

aleonard · 10-11-2009, 10:25 AM

Saw the show last night. Bravo!

The Rep did a great job and deserve all the support we can give them for bringing solid material to our area. Stayed for the Flaws. Hilarious.

A grayt way to spend an evening. Support the Rep and buy a ticket or a membership. You will not be disappointed.

jdarg · 10-11-2009, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aleonard

Saw the show last night. Bravo!

The Rep did a great job and deserve all the support we can give them for bringing solid material to our area. Stayed for the Flaws. Hilarious.

A grayt way to spend an evening. Support the Rep and buy a ticket or a membership. You will not be disappointed.

Thanks aleonard! And was I right about Bruce?!?

Off to Brunch with Pinter- looking forward to eating yummy Great Southern brunch and hearing more about Harold Pinter.

The show runs again next week- Wednesday through Saturday!

aleonard · 10-11-2009, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdarg

Thanks aleonard! And was I right about Bruce?!?

Off to Brunch with Pinter- looking forward to eating yummy Great Southern brunch and hearing more about Harold Pinter.

The show runs again next week- Wednesday through Saturday!

You were right

and everything about this show is pitch perfect. The acting students we had with us last night were jazzed over the entire production. We don't get to see quality material like this in our area very often. Kudos to the staff and cast

Live theater is such a special type of entertainment. When I leave a movie, I'm often tired and ready to go home. When I leave a good production, such as this one last night, I find it hard to sleep, because I'm energized and want to discuss it. It was one of the best productions I've seen in a long time..

hoover_rc · 10-12-2009, 07:38 AM

Don't forget to set you watch or phone alarm for 8pm tonight for the Pinter Radio Hour, the newest little playwright festival twist.... Hear snippets of interviews with the late Nobel-winner, hear Rep actors reading one of his later short plays, and call in with your questions and commments... We're live on 30a Radio!..

Tune in to 107.1FM or 30A Radio

hoover_rc · 10-13-2009, 03:38 PM

Last four chances to see The Homecoming are Wednesday through Saturday night...

It really is a fantastic play, but don't take my word for it.. read the reviews here..(hint: they're good)

jdarg · 10-14-2009, 11:56 AM

Curtain is back up tonight! Treat yourself to a night at the theatre - call 231-0733 for tickets.

An evening at the Rep is a delightful indulgence. From the moment you walk in and are welcomed by the ticket volunteer to the end where you have the opportunity to talk with the actors and director after the performance, you are transported from the cares of everyday life into an intriguing world created by gifted artists. The talent and dedication of every member of the Rep's professional theatre company is evident in every facet and truly a gift to Northwest Florida. (thanks for the great review!!)

Smiling JOe · 10-15-2009, 08:25 AM

Great show last night! I thought Dustin was the only actor who could pull off that accent, but I was pleasantly surprised by everyone's accent. Great casting and great performance!

John R · 10-15-2009, 10:53 PM

Only two more shows before we close. If you haven't seen the show yet, be sure to call and reserve your seats; 850 231 0733.

carmen · 10-15-2009, 11:02 PM

It was fabulous. Thanks to the rep for picking such an intriguing play. Every time I see a Rep play I think it's the best thing I've seen them perform, and thought so again tonight.

Smiling JOe · 10-16-2009, 08:28 AM

It's so much more than your average entertainment.

John R · 10-17-2009, 06:28 PM

Final show begins in one hour. Break a leg or two.

jdarg · 10-18-2009, 07:57 PM

Closing night was sold out! Thanks everyone who worked on the show, volunteered, and bought a ticket!

Stay tuned- Christmas Carol is back at Baytowne in December- a free show on their outdoor stage. Last year we combined ice skating, hot chocolate, and the show for a great "wintery" night at the beach.

2010 is the 10th anniversary of The Seaside Repertory Theatre- and the schedule is full of favorites from the past 9 years!