"The Jolly Good Fellows" Head to New York

THE JOLLY GOOD FELLOWS, a new play by Steve Feffer, playwriting professor at Western Michigan University and Whole Art’s resident playwright, and Tucker Rafferty, artistic director of the Whole Art Theater, have written a new play, THE JOLLY GOOD FELLOWS, that will be produced in New York City, Friday, May 29th through Monday, June 1st at the Festival of Jewish Theater and Ideas being produced by New York’s Untitled Theatre Company #61 (http://www.untitledtheater.com/). THE JOLLY GOOD FELLOWS will perform at the 99 seat Mint Theatre, located at 43rd Street and 8th Avenue, in the heart of the city’s theatre district. Under the direction of Western Michigan University theatre professor Mark Liermann, who will direct the New York production, THE JOLLY GOOD FELLOWS was recently read as part of the Whole Art Theater’s second annual New Play Festival.

THE JOLLY GOOD FELLOWS is a fifty-minute play set in the 1890s that tells the story of David Green and Michael Harrigan, two actors that make their living performing a stereotypical “Jew” and “Irishman” in the grotesque ethnic performances that were popular in the concert saloons and variety theatres of the day.

A darkly comedic tale, THE JOLLY GOOD FELLOWS is based loosely on a pair of actors from the time, exploring how these two very different American immigrants enter into a contract of convenience to keep up with the changing times, and then later, the cost that such performances inflicts upon them personally and socially. The play also includes songs and sketches from the period.

Workshop Dates

February 2: Kris, Adam

February 9: Jason L., Tyler

February 16: Jason W., Jim, James

February 23: Karen, Mickey

March 9: Ben

March 16: Noah, Mikala

March 23: CC

The Jolly Good Fellows by Steve Feffer and Tucker Rafferty, Reading Saturday, January 17th, 7 PM

The Whole Art Theatre New Play Series will present a reading of the The Jolly Good Fellows by Steve Feffer and Tucker Rafferty at the Whole Art's Epic Theatre Center space (359 South Kalamazoo Mall) at 7 PM on Saturday, January 17th. The reading is free and will be followed by a talk-back with the playwrights and a reception.

The Jolly Good Fellows is a two character fifty minute play set in the 1890s that tells the story of David Green and Michael Harrigan, two actors that make their living performing a stereotypical “Jew” and “Irishman” in the grotesque ethnic performances that were popular in the concert saloons and variety theatres of the day. This darkly comedic tale, based loosely on two actors from the time and their "Jolly Good Fellow" sketches, explores how these two very different American immigrants enter into a contract of convenience to keep up with the changing times, and then later, the cost that such performances inflicts upon them personally and socially. The play also includes songs and sketches from the period. The Jolly Good Fellows has been entered into the Jewish Fringe Festival to be held in New York City in Spring 2009.

For information or reservations please contact the Whole Art Theatre at 269-345-7529 or www.wholeart.org.

January 5th, 8 PM Play Readings to Benefit WMU Kennedy Center/ACTF Playwrights

This Monday, January 5th at 8 PM, at the Whole Art Theatre Studio Space at 246 North Kalamazoo Mall, there will be a benefit play reading for the four graduate students from the Creative Writing Program that have been selected by the National Playwriting Program of the Kennedy Center's American College Theatre Festival to have their plays presented at the KC/ACTFs prestigious regional festival, being held this year in Saginaw, Michigan January 6 - 11. The plays were four of the thirteen total that were selected from over one hundred and fifty entries that were submitted in three categories: ten minutes, one acts and full lengths.

This will be a benefit for the playwrights to raise money in support of their trip to the festival. There will be a reading of each of the short plays and scenes from the full length, as well as Dionysian revelry. Admission to the event is free. A hat will be passed. Refreshments will be for sale. There may be a silent auction. The hat may be auctioned.

The plays and playwrights are:

MFA playwright Kris Peterson's play "Gun Metal Blue Bar" is one of the region's six ten minute plays. Additionally, Kris's play has been selected for a reading at the Mid-American Theatre Conference that will be held in March in Chicago. In Kris's play, Ricky's looking to get paid for a few weeks of hard work around Henry's racing pigeon lofts. However, one final gruesome act is separating Ricky from the money he needs to rescue his late father's cuff links from the pawn shop.

MFA playwright Karen Wurl's "Now and At the Hour Of" and MFA playwright Jason Lenz's "The Switch Room" are two of the six one act plays. Karen's play was originally presented at WMU as part of FUSE ONE.

In Wurl's "Hour," a middle-aged woman revisits 1977, a motel room, and a lost love, in an attempt to recover a lost self.

In Jason's play, Gus and Sam have an important job to do: flip the large switch in the switch room, at the second specified to them by the government, with no knowledge of what is being set in motion by the ambiguous lever. The problem is that today Gus and Sam are beginning to question what the switch actually does once activated.

Recent Ph.D creative writing program graduate Christine Iaderosa's play The Sins of Kalamazoo is the sole full length play to be presented. Christine's play will be presented in a full production later this year at the Whole Art Theatre. The Sins of Kalamazoo is a loose adaptation of the Carl Sandburg poem with reminiscence of the lost past of Americana and the failed promise of yesteryear.

The plays will be presented at the festival and then responded to by a panel of theatre professionals that this year includes Aaron Carter from Chicago's Victory Gardens Theatre and Roger Hall, the Kennedy Center's National Playwriting Program Chair.

The Kennedy Center's American College Theatre Festival provides opportunities for over 18,000 theatre students and faculty throughout the country. English Department Professor Steve Feffer serves as the Vice Chair for the KCACTF III National Playwriting Program.

For more information please contact Dr. Steve Feffer at steve.feffer@wmich.edu.