Life, Arts & Society ED 19th

Kevin Black Productions brings ‘Backwards Broadway” to Willow Theater

New Play Festival at FAU’s Theater Lab o ering six performances

Theater Lab at Florida Atlantic University will offer its annual New Play Festival March 10-12 at the Heckscher Stage on the FAU campus, 777 Glades Road in Boca Raton.

Theatre Lab’s annual New Play Festival continues its tradition of providing opportunities for emerging and established playwrights to showcase their work. Each reading is accompanied by a post-show discussion, an opportunity to interact with the playwrights themselves, where they will discuss the process, inspiration, and plans for future development.

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By Dale King

If you’re wondering what “Backwards Broadway” is really like, you’ve got four opportunities to find out.

Two popular local singer/actors, Sharyn Peoples and Mike Westrich, will take you on a topsy-turvy ride through Broadway’s greatest hits in four shows that are coming this weekend to the Willow Theater in Boca Raton’s Sugar Sand Park, 300 S. Military Trail.

Dates and Times:

Friday, March 10 at 8pm

Saturday, March 11 at 2pm Saturday, March 11 at 8pm

Sunday, March 12 at 2pm

Ticket prices:

$20 Per Person

$15 Group Rate (6 or more tickets purchased in a single transaction)

$15 Season Ticket

With Peoples and Westrich in the starring roles, this revue fl ips the script and puts a whole new twist on your favorite Broadway show tunes.

Sharyn takes on classics like “Music of the Night” from Phantom of the Opera and Mike explores what it’s like when you just “Cain’t Say No” from the musical Oklahoma!

Accompanied by pianist Christopher Hamblin, Sharyn and Mike take you on an entertaining ride through Broadway’s greatest hits. Kevin Black is the show’s producer and creator.

The performance is 90 minutes long with no intermission. It is rated PG and is not recommended for children under 10. For tickets, call the box office at 561-347-3948. Box offi ce is open Tuesday-Saturday 12pm-5pm.

Doggie and Kittie

Ball returns as fundraiser for Tri County Animal Rescue

Tri County Animal Rescue has brought back its annual Doggie and Kittie Ball, the 18th edition of the fundraiser for the organization that rescues, cares for and adopts out dogs and cats.

The theme this year is: “Cirque du Furleil benefiting furmanity.”

CBS 12 News Anchor Sam

Kerrigan will be the emcee of this year’s Doggie and Kittie Ball.

Photos courtesy of Carol Kassie

LabRats, students in Theater Lab’s educational outreach program

Producer/creator Kevin Black

Singer Michael Westrich

Singer Sharyn Peoples

Playwright Deborah Zoe Laufer

Playwright Johnny G. Lloyd

Doggie and Kittie Ball returns as fundraiser for Tri County Animal Rescue

By Dale King

Tri County Animal Rescue has brought back its annual Doggie and Kittie Ball, the 18th edition of the fundraiser for the organization that rescues, cares for and adopts out dogs and cats.

The theme this year is: “Cirque du Furleil benefiting furmanity.”

Proceeds from the celebrated Doggie and Kittie Ball enable TCAR to continue its life-saving work, providing a safe haven, nutritious food, lots of tender loving care and veterinary treatment until these animals can be adopted.

Sponsorships are available.

Tri-County Animal Rescue promises to make its 18th Annual Doggie & Kittie Ball the best and most exciting ever with the exciting theme, Cirque du Furleil, benefitting Fur-Manity.

Mark your calendar for Saturday, March 18, dust off those boots and hats, slip on those jeans and head out to Boca West Country Club. The non-stop fun starts at 5:30 p.m. with endless surprises. One thing that’s not a surprise is the western theme, which continues this year, as it has for many previous doggie and kittie events.

There are two spectacular events rolled into one evening. The social event starts at 5:30 p.m. with cocktails, open bars, endless hors d’oeuvres and “help yourself” endless appetizers. Entertainment will be provided by local performers. A silent auction will be held, and wouldbe shoppers can stroll down a new vendor row.

There will also be a rare opportunity for folks to enter a drawing for magnificent 2-carat total weight diamond stud earrings, with the winner announced during

the main event.

The main event will be hosted by Co-Chairs State Attorney Dave Aronberg and District 5 County Commissioner Maria Sachs, with CBS12 news anchor Sam Kerrigan as the emcee.

Those in attendance will also enjoy a sit-down dinner and dance to the sounds of the Steve Chase Band. The evening continues with the demanded return of dedicated Boca Raton Firefighters lovingly carrying adoptable furbabies.

The live auction will feature many exciting items, and the evening will conclude with the amazing grand finale, a vast array of delectable sweets.

For more information, call Tri-County Animal Rescue at 561.482.8110, email Heidi at heidi@tricountyhumane. org,or visit www.TriCountyAnimalRescue.com.

CBS 12 News Anchor Sam Kerrigan will be the emcee of this year’s Doggie and Kittie Ball.

New Play Festival at FAU’s Theater Lab o ering six performances

By Dale King

Theater Lab at Florida Atlantic University will offer its annual New Play Festival March 10-12 at the Heckscher Stage on the FAU campus, 777 Glades Road in Boca Raton.

Theatre Lab’s annual New Play Festival continues its tradition of providing opportunities for emerging and established playwrights to showcase their work. Each reading is accompanied by a post-show discussion, an opportunity to interact with the playwrights themselves, where they will discuss the process, inspiration, and plans for future development.

The schedule is:

Friday, March 10th at 7:30pm

The Last Yiddish Speaker by Deborah Zoe Laufer

Hannah is struggling to survive her senior year of high school - new town, new school, new boyfriend. She’s also struggling to survive the new America, where the insurrection was successful, and everything has changed. When an ancient Yiddish-speaking woman is deposited on their doorstep, Hannah and her father must decide whether to help the woman hide or to save themselves.

Deborah Zoe Laufer’s plays have been produced at Theatre Lab, Florida Stage, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Cleveland Playhouse, Geva, The Humana Festival, Everyman, Primary Stages, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and hundreds of other theaters around the world. Plays include Be Here Now, End Days, Rooted, Informed Consent (NYTimes critic’s pick), Leveling Up, Out of Sterno, The Last Schwartz, Sirens, Meta, The Three Sisters of Weehawken, Fortune, dozens of short plays, and the musicals, Window Treatment, and By Any Other Name, written with composer, Daniel Green. DEBORAHZOELAUFER.com

Saturday, March 11 at 12:30pm

The Impossible Task of Today by Jeff Bower

Three years removed from tragedy, Jack, an agoraphobic online teacher has perfected his video game playing skills but severely neglected his hygiene, mental health, and dwindling number of personal relationships. When the grocery delivery guy is one of your best friends, something’s got to give, and with the arrival of a home gym, everything will change. Jack truly believes it...even if no one else does.

Jeff is excited to be working with Theatre Lab again after his radio play, One Last Shot, received its world premiere during the pandemic. A former teacher, mascot, and assembly line worker, Jeff Bower is repped by Paul Weitzman, a founding partner at Culture Creative Entertainment. Jeff earned a BA in Mathematics from Binghamton and an MFA in Theatre from FAU where he received death threats for performing his graduate thesis role.

After relocating to Los Angeles, he graduated from the improv programs at UCB and iO West (four years as a mainstage cast member, Del Close Award winner) and performed at The Los Angeles Improv & Sketch Festivals, the Pilots Live Festival, the Comedy Central Stage, and the NYC Sketch Festival.

Saturday, March 11, at 3:30pm

two of us on the run by Steve McMahon

J and C are bored small town American teenage girls who go on the run to find the ‘real’ America and themselves. They procrastinate and fantasize about the best way to run away from home, debate the fundamentals of feminism and what to do once they’ve left home and hit the road. On the open road, reality and fantasy blur. They rob banks, make bombs and discuss sexual, class and gender politics. They meet Brian, an enigmatic bartender, leading

to a conclusion where they might fall in love, might commit acts of terror, might kill people, or might just breathe in the night air and decide to go home.

Steve McMahon is a Scottish actor and writer based between Edinburgh and Florida. He has been longlisted for the Theatre 503 Playwriting Award and a semi-finalist for the Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference. He has performed with the National Theatre of Scotland, Adirondack Shakespeare Company and Bard in the Botanics, and his plays have been produced or developed by Origin Theatre Company, Traverse Theatre Company, Fundamental Theater Project, Nylon Fusion, Village Pub Theatre, The Arctic Group, IRT Theater, Bridge Street Theatre, NYC Fridge Fest and Strange Town. He trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City where he co-founded and edited The Dionysian playwriting magazine and the Caffe Cino theatre book series.

Saturday, March 11 at 7:30pm

love is hard and absolutely (probably) worth it by Johnny G. Lloyd

Tom’s a former dancer. Vaughn’s a (current) painter. Vaughn and Tom are dating. They’ve been dating for a while. Vaughn and Tom have worries. They’re worried about their brothers, their fathers, their mothers, their very adorable pillow pet. And their apartment. Vaughn and Tom live in a very small apartment. Unfortunately, their world is about to get a little bit smaller. But maybe they’ll be able to break out of these four walls and learn new ways to express themselves and express love. Maybe. Set in the doldrums of 2020, love is hard and absolutely (probably) worth it is a meditation on brotherhood, fatherhood, sonhood, generational legacies, race, politics, and what it means to build something with a person you love in spite of all of the above.

Johnny G. Lloyd is a New York-based writer and producer. Off Broadway: Patience (Second Stage Theatre). Off-Off Broadway: Or an Astronaut Play (The Tank). Johnny was the winner of the 2021 Bay Area Playwrights Festival (The Problem with Magic, Is:) and has been commissioned by Clubbed Thumb, Westport Country Playhouse and Second Stage Theatre. Currently he is a member of the Ars Nova Play Group was previously a member of The Lark Playwrights Workshop, the Clubbed Thumb Early-Career Writers Group and Liberation Theatre Company’s Writing Residency. jglloyd.com

Sunday, March 12 at 1:00pm LabRATS

Hear what’s on the minds of the next generation of playwrights! Theatre Lab’s newest educational outreach program, LabRATS (Rising Artists Theatre Society) provides high school students from around Palm Beach County the opportunity to work with industry professionals to create and produce original work. This group of students in grades 10-12 was recommended by teachers at partner schools and spent the month of January working with professional playwright, Alix Sobler (Last Night in Inwood & The Glass Piano), to create original short plays & pieces. Now, as part of the New Play Festival, these students will work with professional directors and actors to further develop their scripts for a first public reading - some of which will go on to be part of the one-night only performance of original student work in May of 2023!

Sunday, March 12 at 3:30pm

La Paloma by Andie Arthur

Located in unincorporated Dade County, La Paloma was a gathering place for “homosexuals in evening gowns, trousered lesbians, and prostitutes.” On November 15, 1937, the Ku Klux Klan stormed La Paloma, burning crosses outside, violently attacking the club patrons and staff, and threated to burn the place down with the Dade County Sheriff’s approval. La Paloma reopened two weeks later, with the management promising “spicier entertainment than ever,” including a drag version of white robes. Join Al Youst, the owner; Jonathan aka Butterfly, a homosexual in an evening gown; Sophia, a trousered lesbian, and Maya, a prostitute as they reclaim their story and put on a show to remember.

Andie Arthur is a playwright and dramaturg, the co-founding artistic director of Lost Girls Theatre, the executive director of the South Florida Theatre League, and adjunct faculty at New World School of the Arts. She is a graduate of the BFA Playwriting Program at DePaul University and a former fellow of the Kennedy Center’s Summer Playwriting Intensive and the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs’ Playwright Development Program.

Packages and single tickets are available: $99 for all six readings; choose three for $55; single tickets are $20. For information, visit www.fauevents.com or call 561-297-6124.

Photos by Amy Pasquantonio

Playwright Johnny G. Lloyd

LabRats, students in Theater Lab’s educational outreach program