NEXT! READINGS OF NEW WORKS BY REGIONAL PLAYWRIGHTS – Two One-Acts

Virtual Program
Two One-Acts by Cooperstown Playwrights

Reserve your spot at dragonflyglasseye.eventbrite.com!

The Glass Eye of Jimmy Cooper by Fred Schneider

• • Directed by Rebecca Burk-Sciallo
  • Streaming, Sunday April 11
  • Synopsis: Lauded by teachers of remedial freshman composition everywhere, Mark Twain’s essay The Literary Offences of James Fenimore Cooper lives in local (Cooperstown) infamy for single-handedly condemning our boy Jimmy to the literary ash heap. At least it should live in infamy… and it would… if it weren’t so damn funny. Yet one can imagine an aging darkened Sam Clemens, circa 1904, having just buried his wife Livy in Elmira, slinking into Cooperstown to “return” to the scene of his crime. As he steps off the train, he is carrying not only his grief, but the inner conflict between Clemens the man and Twain the ego. He has been compelled to Cooperstown by something unknown to him or anyone, and he is all too happy to leave it to Phinney, editor of the local paper, to figure it out.

Dragonfly by Terrence Dwyer

• • Directed by Rebecca Burk-Sciallo
  • Streaming, Sunday April 11
  •  Synopsis: After years of bouncing between therapists, Eddie begins a session with a new therapist and is gradually prompted to confront the impact past events have had on his life. Despite his hardened veneer Eddie returns to moments when he was a boy that have followed him into adulthood. Through the subtle inquiries and prompts of his therapist, Arlene, Eddie is brought to a moment of recognition wherein the memories he has held onto are revealed to be more damaging than he realized.

 

The NEXT! play-reading series continues its mission to celebrate and inspire Central New York playwrights, as well as to introduce their work to a larger audience. Giving playwrights the ability to collaborate with local directors and performers, this series also welcomes the valuable feedback from the public which is critical to the development of any new work. Three plays  are selected each year on the basis of their literary and artistic merit, and are presented free to the public.