Shawnee Playhouse to air original plays

The Shawnee Playhouse opens the New Year with its Shawnee Original Playwright Series winners.

Each year, Worthington Players will produce and perform the original works of area playwrights, chosen by the executive committee from among submissions received in an open contest.

Plays are listened to during staged readings and voted on by audience members. The resulting winners are the best of the best, and the audience has a chance to see a play before it moves on to other theaters.

This year, three of the five playwrights have performed on the Shawnee Playhouse stage as well.

Opening first, on Jan. 3 are the Shawnee Original Playwright Series Short Plays.

This series of six short plays will be shown together at each performance.

They include "The Bureaucracy of Existentialism" by Elizabeth Kennedy, "Errant Souls" by Robert S. Robbins, "Absolution Green" by Paul Kodiak, "The Birthday Room" by Rich Strack, "Angel on the Yellow Couch" by K.K. Gordon and "The Counterfeit Dick" by Zanne Hall.

Shows will be 8 p.m. Jan. 2, 9 and 16 and 2 p.m. Jan. 3, 10 and 17.

This is the third time a short play by Strack, a Times News correspondent, has won this honor.

Opening Jan. 22 will be the full-length original, "The Two Georgias" by Brian McDermott. "The Two Georgias" is a dramedy about how the choices made can affect others as well as your own life, or afterlife.

For two rivals in a Broadway-bound extravaganza, the lines between reality and fiction are about to be blurred when a mysterious woman makes them an offer they may be able to refuse - for a price they may not be willing to pay.

The "Two Georgias" will run at 8 p.m. on Jan. 23, 30 and Feb. 6 and at 2 p.m. on Jan. 22, 24, 29 and 31, and Feb. 5 and 7.

To reserve tickets please call the Shawnee Playhouse Box Office at 570-421-5093 or visit www.theshawneeplayhouse.com.