New show coming from Off the Page Readers Theater
A treat for theater and literature lovers in beautiful Sonoma County, California: Off the Page Readers Theater’s 2022 show is coming in October. The theme is Choices. It will feature several local writers whose work I admire, and a few whose work I look forward to getting to know: Robin Beeman, Susan Bono, Sher Christian, Amando Garcia-Davila, Gene Hottel, Chuck Kensler, Rita Losch, Linda Loveland Reid, Roger C. Lubeck, and Hilary Susan Moore.
Hilary Susan Moore is also a founding member of Off the Page. I emailed her with a few questions about the group, and here’s what she had to say:
Off the Page—the when, why, and how of us
“We three: Hilary Moore, Pat Hayes and Mike Hayes met in 2013 during a 24-hour play creation and fell in like. We decided to start a Readers Theater group with a twist: 90 percent or more of our featured writers are local. All these years later, we are still a very small troupe (now six of us) and we are nomads … performing in Cotati, Sebastopol, and Santa Rosa at various venues. I am an Off the Page director, actor, and producer. I'm also a poet; sometimes one of my poems is in a show. All six of us act and direct, and we have a musician who opens the show.
“Here's how we create a show:
“We select a theme with input from each of us. Then we narrow the titles down until we have the right one. We send out a call to local writers and writing groups and wait for their entries: short plays, stories, poems, memoirs that connect in some way to the theme.
“We read everything and begin the process of choosing eight to ten pieces for the show, ones that will work for our performance style, and ones that fit together in a kind of literary symphony.
“The pandemic shut us down, as it did for so many. We rehearsed a show via Zoom ... most unsatisfying! Then finally last November we performed that show—months late, but well received. Everyone was/still is hungry for live entertainment! Due to the lingering effects of Covid, our season this year will only produce one show.”
Thank you, Hilary, for providing a peek behind the scenes.
Details for this year’s show
CHOICES will be presented Friday and Saturday, October 14 and 15 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, October 16 at 3 p.m. The venue is Church of the Oaks, at the corner of West Sierra and Page streets in Cotati. (Yippee! I’ll be able to walk there.)
Off the Page Readers Theater’s actor-directors include Hilary Moore, Jeff Savage, Spencer Sherman, Kathleen Haynie, RW Hessler and Beth Moiose. The featured musician is Patrick Michael McCarty. Find out more at www.offthepagetheater.com and www.facebook.com/OTPRT.
The next theme and call for entries will be announced in early 2023.