Stage Left Theatre to Host ‘WINNERS’ One Act Play Festival

Salida’s Stage Left Theatre Company is presenting “Winners” from their 2014 Original One Act Play Competition. The three winning plays are “Ernie’s Fanny” by Wilbert Turner, Jr. of Perkasie, PA (directed by yours truly, Cynda Green) “Assumptions” by Judy Kiehart of Poncha Springs, CO (directed by Allen Best) and “Lovely to Look At” by George Freek of Belvedere, IL, (directed by Amy Wolfe).

“Winners” will run October 17-19 at the Salida SteamPlant Theater. (Details at the end of this article…)

I’ve directed and produced one act festivals in La Mesa, just outside San Diego, so that is the world I come from. My community theater had a five-play season and a healthy dose of subscribers. We had producers for each production, a set designer, set builder, set dresser, property master, costumer, light person, sound person, stage manager and house manager. All were professional volunteers. Some received a small stipend for their work. Our productions (other than One Act Festivals) ran for 3 weekends — ten shows altogether.

Auditions required resumes with head shots, monologues, and callbacks. San Diego, just two hours from Los Angeles, and with its own theatrical infrastructure, is replete with excellent community theater actors.

I found out that it’s a little bit different in a one-theater town far away from LA and NYC. Fortunately a friend of mine reminded me more than once, “It’s different. Not necessarily better or worse."

As a member of the play reading committee for Stage Left’s One Act competition, I enjoyed reading many original plays. “Ernie’s Fanny” was one of my favorites, so I was pleased when our committee voted it one of the top three plays to win a full production. By process of elimination, I was thrilled to become director of “Ernie’s Fanny" and here we are.

[incolumn]“Ernie’s Fanny” is set in a strip club on a Sunday morning, and is comedy with an unexpected dramatic turn. That’s all I’m going to say about the play, because I’d like you to see it for yourself.

After receiving the script (with the playwright’s identity concealed from the play reading committee) I asked the Stage Left producers for the name of the playwright. A few days went by, and I asked again.

“We can’t find the cover sheet for ‘Ernie’s Fanny’," I was told.  "We’re still looking. It has to be somewhere.”

Two weeks went by, and my playwright was still ‘lost.’ I started thinking about the worst case scenario. What if we never found the playwright? Should I still direct the play without the playwright’s knowledge? Is it even ethical to do so? How could this happen to me?

After what seemed like an eternity, I heard from the producers. The playwright had checked Stage Left’s website, and had seen that his play had won but that the playwright was ‘unknown at the moment’ and needed to contact Stage Left. He did so, and consequently the playwright was found! One catastrophe staved off.

Playwright Wilbert Turner Jr.

The playwright’s name is Wilbert Turner, Jr. and he lives in Perkasie PA. I wanted to call him, but I decided to first do a Google search. I found out that Wilbert Turner, Jr. was Assistant Professor of English Dr. Turner, at Delaware Valley College, near Philadelphia. He teaches English and specializes in African American Literature and Film Adaptation.

My playwright was Black! Although I had guessed that a male wrote “Ernie’s Fanny”, I don’t think I had given the unknown playwright’s ethnicity much thought. But, living in the lily-white town of Salida, subconsciously I just assumed the playwright was white. I was ecstatic that I was dead wrong.

I called Dr. Turner, who prefers to go by Wil, and introduced myself as the director of his play “Ernie’s Fanny" for Stage Left in Salida. After a pause, he said, “Oh no, I hope you didn’t look at my students’ evaluations.” Apparently there is a website where students evaluate their professors, (and usually rate the easy professors the highest.)

I laughed, and said, No, I hadn’t looked at the evaluations, but I did see that he taught African American Literature.

We proceeded to talk for a good part of an hour. I enjoyed his quick wit and self-deprecating sense of humor, and we had a great time trading stories and talking about the play. I urged Wil to come to Salida for the production. He said he would like to if he could get a grant from his college — and, in fact I now know that Wil will be in Salida October 16 – 20. I look forward to meeting him in person, and taking him around town to the local breweries and food establishments during his stay — something he said he would enjoy doing.

And of course I’m excited to have playwright Wil in house for the premier production of “Ernie’s Fanny".

Stage Left held auditions back in August, and I have to say that I went through culture shock. No monologues, no call-backs, just cold readings from scripts. I soon found out why: there were more roles in the three one-acts than there were actors who auditioned.

It took some time, stress, and good luck to put together my cast, but the final result is a talented cast with which I’m very pleased with. Suffice it to say that, along with the necessary dedication, we’ve had some good laughs as we work through the process that eventually evolves into Opening Night.

The talented and lovely Andrea Mossman, owner of Tenderfoot Dance Collective, is the stripper (actually ‘exotic dancer’). Band teacher and actor Andre Wilkens, long-time Stage Left veteran Michael Turley, and young actors Kyria Hansen and Isaac Koelsch – way talented beyond their years – complete the cast.

With one week to go before opening night, we and the other two productions – collectively called “Winners” – are sure to bring Salida an original and entertaining theatrical experience, with the added bonus that at least two of the playwrights will be in the house.

“Winners” runs October 17,18,19 at the SteamPlant Theater; Friday & Saturday at 7:30, Sunday Matinee at 2:30. Tickets are $15 at the door, or $12 in advance at this website… or the SteamPlant Box Office.