For most, the creak of a swingset transports us back in time to our childhood. For under-caffeinated Marco playwright Kristyn Estes, it conjures a different vibe.
“There is a local hang-out called Wake Up Marco. It’s just a coffee shop where a bunch of locals go, and we talk about everything under the sun,” said Estes. “One day somebody happened to mention a story that had something to do with The Villages that was a little bit titillating.”
Could they? Should they? Would they ever dare become swingers themselves? That’s the dilemma facing Estes’ characters, Jake and Abby, in her disarming comedy, “Swingset.”
Producing Artistic Director Hyla Crane brings the play back to Arts Center Theatre on Marco Island for encore performances Aug. 28 and 29.
“For all the chatter, it is a play that is charming, that is funny, that was extremely well acted,” said Crane. “Kristyn did not just write it, she directed and starred in it. She’s a fabulous actress and people were entertained. There were parts that were very funny and … moved people in many respects. So while the marketing made it seem like it was going to be racy, at the end of the day, it was just a wonderful show.”
Estes takes “Swingset” on the road to the Fort Myers Theatre on September dates yet to be announced.
MORE INFORMATION:
“The Swingset” is a lighthearted adult comedy that chronicles Jake and Abby’s move to their tropical dream home. However, Jake fears the dream has become a nightmare when it appears that Abby has much wilder ideas about their next chapter.
Kristyn Estes is an accomplished writer whose children’s book, “Manuela’s Gift” is a Parents Choice Medalist, and one of the American Library Association’s Notable Books for Children.
Estes has vast experience as an actor, director and writer in regional and community theater and has also written and hosted the award-winning PBS program, “Friends & Neighbors” airing in the Chicago metropolitan area.
You may also be interested in:
- “Kristyn Estes’ ‘Swingset’ exposes Marco Island’s ‘dirty little secret”;
- “Arts Center Theatre’s new ‘Encore Series’ provides entertainment to year-round Marco patrons”; and
- “Marco Island Center for the Arts offers theater, too.”
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.