SPQR Stage Co. provides fledgling playwrights the opportunity to showcase works to live audiences

On Feb. 18 and 19, SPQR Stage Company will proudly host its fifth-annual “New Play Festival,” a two-day showcase of eight original plays that will come to life at Studio;Space in Somers Point. The festival, produced by SPQR Artistic Director Bill Sterritt, will also have a live-streaming option on Saturday.

Sterritt, a playwright himself, has been a supporter of novice playwrights for years and emphasizes the importance of needing a place to showcase original works.

“Writing a play and putting it down on paper is challenging in the sense that there’s really no way to know what works and what doesn’t,” said Sterritt, of Somers Point. “Testing a new play in front of a live audience and gaining real-time feedback is paramount to its development. I want to provide that opportunity for up- and-coming writers so that they are able to grow and evolve their art.”

The festival’s playwrights were chosen from a pool of applicants from across the country. Those selected hail from Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, Pittsburgh, New York, as well as from nearer locales such as Atlantic City, Ocean City, and Cape May. The eight plays, each of which runs for approximately 10 minutes, will be divided up into acts titled “New Jersey” and “Not Jersey”.

The plays and playwrights included in New Works Weekend are:

• “Slave Trade” by Ken Levine: A man and his Alexa – what could go wrong?
• “Cape Cod Evening” by F.J. Hartland: Divorce is never easy
• “Gaslit” by Judith Pratt: Drilling down upon and unpacking emotions in the corporate setting.
• “Harv’s Surprise” by Michele Markarian: Vanity and love loss.
• “Killeen” by John C. Davenport: A violent memory in a tap room.
• “As though” by Tom Chin, Ocean City: An assault on PC politics.
• “Running Across” by Heidi Mae, Ventnor: Relationships in the Age of Dissonance.
• “Testimonial! (It’s not you, it’s me.)” by Susan Tischler, North Cape May: High praise and obsession.

Performances are 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 18 and 19, at Studio;Space, 112 Woodland Ave., Somers Point. Tickets are $10 (cash) and can be purchased at the door. Saturday’s performance will also be live- streamed for $12. For more information, please call 323-793-2153 or email spqrstageco@aol.com

“Pat’s Place for Comedy” will take place later Saturday evening at 8 p.m. for a separate admission. More information on SPQR Stage Company can be found at StudioSpaceSPNJ.com or Facebook.com/spqrstagesco.

About SPQR Stage Company:

Since 2004, SPQR Stage Company has been testing and redefining the limits of Theatre, in theme, form, and purpose. In 2004, SPQR explored the relationship of Man to God, as exemplified by the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS, a Finalist at the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. The advantages and deficiencies of Capitalism and Socialism (as well as the danger to our planet’s survival) were explored in FREEZING ANTARCTICA, produced in 2005, and a Semi-Finalist at Sundance’s Play Lab. The year 2007 saw Humanity’s resilience when confronted by the death of the universe by two archaeologists in REVISIONIST HISTORY. Man’s inability to refrain from war, whether Iraq or the Crusades, was addressed in NIHIL OBSTAT, produced in 2008. BOADICEA (the tale of

Iceni’s Queen who revolted against the Roman Empire in 61 A.D.) exposed the inherent battle between Nature and Civilization in humans in a production given a glitter rock beat. CALLIOPE ROSE explored the diminishing power of Myth in modern society exhibited by a modern-day Siren in command of a light house off the coast of Maine in 2010. Wernher Von Braun’s fateful launching of the V-2 Rocket, which opened a modern Pandora’s Box of space exploration and nuclear proliferation, was the subject of THE MISSILE MAN OF PEENEMUNDE, premiered in 2011. THE WRECK OF THE SPANISH ARMADA was read at Manhattan Theatre Club Studios and featured in the 2015 New York International Fringe Festival. SPQR Stage Company’s Artistic Director, Bill Sterritt, was awarded Second Prize in South Coast Repertory’s California Playwriting Competition for CARIBBEAN ROMANCE. Sterritt has also received a California Arts Council Grant, as well as a Finalist Designation from South Coast Repertory’s California Playwriting Competition, for his play PUMPIN’ THE CHIHUAHUA. For almost 10 years, SPQR Stage Company’s productions have exhibited ingenuity in language, concept, and staging. SPQR has always preferred to be ambitious and in front of the curve in all of its undertakings.