Playwrights

In October, the Marco Island Center for the Arts will present a workshop production of the weirdly funny love story “Chameleüns.” We will explore the play in a conversation with co-authors Frank Blocker and Rochelle Burdine along with the actors and real-life married couple Dixie and Patrick Huey.

Urbanite Theatre has a penchant for new work. Its Modern Works Festival focuses on plays being developed by female playwrights. “We're still not at a place in the theatrical landscape or on Broadway where women are being produced within the same percentage,” Artistic Director Summer Dawn Wallace explained. “The festival for us is just a way to try to uplift more women, to develop work by female playwrights in the hope of getting more women's work produced because we're just not quite there yet.”

Southwest Florida-based playwright Joe Simonelli is the Artistic Director of the region’s newest theater venue “Cape Café Theatre,” which is now working on it’s third production of Simonelli’s work. Meanwhile, Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre is mounting a production of Simonelli’s hilarious farce “Half Baked.” Simonelli joins us to talk about the unique Off-Broadway repertory theatre experience the new café theatre gives audiences and to explore his creative approach to playwright.

Players Circle Theater is mounting a production of the psychological thriller, “The Business of Murder” April 15 – May 11. We explore the play in a conversation with playwright Richard Harris, the show’s director Bill Taylor, and Players Circle Theater cofounder and Artistic Director Bob Cacioppo.

Ahead of the final weekend of Florida Repertory Theatre’s production of playwright Steven Dietz’s time travel love story “Bloomsday,” we listen back to our conversation with the playwright recorded on the set of the Florida Rep’s production.

Laboratory Theater of Florida in Fort Myers announced this month that founding producing artistic director Annette Trossbach is retiring from the theater company. Trossbach reflects back on the triumphs and challenges that have come during her tenure, the theater’s impact on the Southwest Florida community, and highlights some of Lab Theater’s stand-out productions over the years.

Florida Repertory Theatre in Fort Myers is mounting a production of playwright Steven Dietz’s time travel love story “Bloomsday.” We feature a conversation with the playwright recorded on the set of the Florida Rep’s production.

Kristyn Estes’ “Swingset” is an entertaining story of mixed signals, mishaps and miscommunication that sends its two characters, Jake and Abby, into a romantic tailspin. Playwright Kristyn Estes got the idea for the comedy over coffee one morning a couple of years ago when she first got wind of Marco's "dirty little secret."

When 7Mary34 Director Trace Talley was in ninth grade, he saw “A Few Good Men” at the Kennedy Center. Now he’s producing the Aaron Sorkin play, which opens at Fort Myers Theatre on September 12.

Urbanite Theatre’s Modern Works Festival takes place in Sarasota September 4 to 8. The festival is a celebration of female playwrights and theater-makers, who are still vastly under-represented in the theater industry.