Actors, artists, filmmakers and events in the news November 22-30, 2020

Grouped under headings that include art openings, film, outdoor art fairs and festivals and theater are advances, announcements and articles about the actors, artists, filmmakers and events making news in Southwest Florida this week:

1     ACTORS

Dena Galyean is Elizabeth in ‘Laundry and Bourbon’

Dena Galyean plays Elizabeth in the Alliance for the Arts’ outdoor production of Laundry and Bourbon. Since relocating to Southwest Florida from Chicagoland, Dena Galyean seems to have a penchant for landing fascinating roles. Among her most recent – and memorable – are Susan B. Anthony in The Agitators and Nora Helmer in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House for Theatre Conspiracy at the Alliance, and Stella Kowalski in The Studio Players’ production of Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire at the Golden Gate Community Center. Her profile is here.

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Shelley Sanders plays Amy Lee in ‘Laundry and Bourbon’

Shelley Sanders plays Amy Lee in the Alliance for the Arts’ outdoor production of Laundry and Bourbon. A true triple threat, Shelley Sanders is an actor, singer and dancer. Her recent credits include a variety of roles in Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery by Ken Ludwig. Columbia in Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show (New Phoenix Theatre) and the lead in Marian, or the True Tale of Robin Hood (Theatre Conspiracy at the Alliance). Her profile is here.

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Rachael Endrizzi in ‘Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical’

Rachael Endrizzi is appearing through December 26, 2020 at Off Broadway Palm in The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical. Her extensive and impressive acting resume includes A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Show (Off Broadway Palm), The Medora Musical 2019 (Burning Hills Singer), Suzanne in Don’t Dress for Dinner, Actor/Violinist in The Temple Bombing, Lady Capulet in Romeo & Juliet, Maggie Saunders in Lend Me a Tenor, Dinah in The Dixie Swim Club, Suzette in Don’t Dress for Dinner, Lana Sherwood in It’s a Wonderful Life: a Live Radio Play, Bamby Lynn in Knock ‘Em Dead, Mrs. Little in Stuart Little and Wendy Darling in The Terrible Tragedy of Peter Pan. Go here for Rachael’s full profile.

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Rachael Lord in ‘Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical’

Rachael Lord is appearing from November 12 through December 26, 2020 at Off Broadway Palm in The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical. Lord’s other stage credits include Snow White in Lab Theater’s hybrid film-theater production of Disenchanted: A New Musical Comedy!, Sabine in In Flight: The Story of Sabine Van Dam (Gulfshore Playhouse touring production), ensemble in Shipwrecked (an adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest for Gulfshore Playhouse and The Naples Philharmonic at Artis-Naples), Showgirl in Step Right Up (RWS Entertainment Group), Faith in Respect: A Musical Journey of Women (Clandestine Arts), Cherry in The Impossible Club (a staged reading for the Winter Park Playhouse) and Martha in The Secret Garden (Florida Southern College). Go here for her full profile.

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Erica Sample in ‘Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical’

Erica Sample is appearing from November 12 through December 26, 2020 at Off Broadway Palm in the role of Darlene in The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical. Erica’s recent credits include Roxie Hart in Chicago, Judy Haynes in White Christmas, Sister Mary Robert in Sister Act and Sophie in Mamma Mia for The Naples Players) and Maggie in Kinky Boots and Charlotte in Charlotte’s Web in Broadway Palm/Prather Entertainment’s Children’s Theater, Off Broadway and main stage productions. Go here for Erica’s full profile.

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Danielle Channell appears next in ‘Realish Housewives of Fort Myers’

Danielle Channell reprises the role of Desiree, that neck model extraordinaire, in The Realish Housewives of Fort Myers. Past credits include Mae Flynn in Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof for The Studio Players and trophy wife Kaitlyn Gordon, brainiac neurosurgeon Angela Saperstein-Koplan and caustic Bohemian author Brianna in Let Nothing You Dismay for Lab Theater. Danielle first portrayed Desiree in Lab’s SoDis virtual production of The Realish Housewives of Fort Myers earlier in the pandemic. Go here for all of Danielle’s stage and film credits. And here’s a story about how for Danielle, theater’s a group effort.

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Sue Schaffel appears next in ‘Realish Housewives of Fort Myers’

The only part Sue Schaffel plays better than whacky is bitch, so it’s only natural that she should be cast in the role of Revonka in LabTV’s upcoming production of The Realish Housewives of Fort Myers. For those who don’t know, Sue burst onto the Southwest Florida theater scene in Lab Theater’s parody Hush Up Sweet Charlotte, but her break-out role locally was that of iconic Blanche Dubois in another parody, Death of a Streetcar Named Virginia Woolf which, coincidentally, was also penned by Realish playwright Tim Sniffen! You’ll find more on Sue’s stage and film credits here.

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Lucy Sundby appears next in ‘Realish Housewives of Fort Myers’

Lucy Sundby is plays Claudia Louise (CL) in The Realish Housewives of Fort Myers. Look out! The last time she played a housewife, she turned her husband and his two pals into popsicles (pun intended) after the idiots locked themselves in their new walk-in freezer. Sundby was last seen pre-pandemic in 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche for the Alliance for the Arts. Go here to see all of Lucy’s stage credits.

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Kendra Michele Weaver in ‘Realish Housewives of Fort Myers’

Kendra Michele Weaver plays Gwen in The Realish Housewives of Fort Myers. Weaver is an actor, stage manager, front of house manager and Volunteer Coordinator for the Laboratory Theater of Florida. Kendra’s stage credits include the Vagina Monologue (Lab Theater, Season 10), stage manager Aggie Manville in Play On! (Lab Theater, Season 8), the Captain and a guard in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (Lab Theater, Season 7) ….

Go here for Kendra’s full profile.

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Rob Green appears next in ‘Realish Housewives of Fort Myers’

Rob Green is hosts The Realish Housewives of Fort Myers. Yes, indeed, he plays Randy Bowen. Green’s credits are Sherlock Holmes in Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery for the Alliance for the Arts, Dr. Sanderson in Harvey, Nick Dahner in Rancho Mirage, The Teacher, Cam, in Max Frisch’s Andorra, Gerald Halverson in Jeffrey Hatcher’s Murderers, the Archangel Gabriel in David Javerbaum’s An Act of God, the wheelchair-confined Queen of the Hollywood Melodrama Blanche Hudson in the outrageous Lab Theater summer spoof Whatever Happened to Baby Jane: A Parody of the Horror and Burton in in Burn This, as well as a supporting role in The Elephant Man. Go here for the rest of Rob’s stage credits.

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Shelley Sanders is one of the ‘Realish Housewives of Fort Myers’

Shelley Sanders plays Brooke in the Realish Housewives of Fort Myers in Lab Theater’s filmed theatrical production to be broadcast on three separate days in November. A true triple threat, Sanders recent credits include a variety of roles in Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery by Ken Ludwig. Columbia in Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show (New Phoenix Theatre) and the lead in Marian, or the True Tale of Robin Hood (Theatre Conspiracy at the Alliance). She also reprised the role of Bitsy Mae for SoDis (Lab) Theater’s virtual reading of Sordid Lives during the shut-down in May of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her profile is here.

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Madelaine Weymouth is Prosecco in ‘Realish Housewives of Fort Myers’

Madelaine Weymouth plays the role of Prosecco in Tim Sniffen and Kate James’ Realish Housewives of Fort Myers, viewable now through November 28. Highly accomplished and much sought after, Madelaine’s acting credits include Dr. Watson in Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, Robyn in Sex Tips for Straight Women from a Gay Man, Vandy Jordan in Venus in Fur (for The Studio Players), Forgive Me; I Put You in a Play, Boberg’s Timer and Dash in the Middle in Lab Theater’s inaugural Festival of Tens, Serenity in And the Winner Is, and Jessica in Hand to God. Want more Maddy? Go here.

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Stephen Hooper appears next in ‘Realish Housewives of Fort Myers’

Stephen Hooper plays Dr. Ted in LabTV’s production of The Realish Housewives of Fort Myers, viewable now through November 28. An actor, director and playwright whose career in theater spans more than three decades, Stephen’s foray into the realm of theater was wholly unplanned. In fact, he had been practicing law for a number of years and went into acting pretty much on a whim. Go here to read the story and see Stephen’s stage and other credits.

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Randall Kenneth Jones in cast of ‘Realish Housewives of Fort Myers’

Randall Kenneth Jones plays Stefan in Realish  Housewives of Fort Myers, viewable now through November 28. Highly intelligent, deeply introspective and ridiculously well-connected, Jones made quite the splash in the gender-bending roles of femme fatale Cousin Miriam in Hush Up Sweet Charlotte and Baby Jane Hudson in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane: A Parody of the Horror, both produced by Laboratory Theater of Florida in the downtown Fort Myers River District. Go here to view Randy’s full profile.

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Nuniez Philor playing Chance in ‘Realish Housewives’

Nuniez “Nemo” Philor plays the part of Chance in LabTV’s production of Realish Housewives of Fort Myers, viewable now through November 28. Nuniez Philor is an FGCU graduate whose stage credits include Theatre Conspiracy’s production of Charles Busch’s Vampire Lesbians of Sodom (Ali/PJ), Steven Dietz’s Rancho Mirage (Seth Holly) and August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. He also appeared as a man who finds himself at a crossroads when people take to the street in Ferguson, Missouri in the aftermath of Michael Brown’s slaying in Theatre Conspiracy’s virtual production of Hands Up by Kristy Thomas.

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Hollis Galman to play Marty for Studio Players in ‘Circle Mirror Transformation’

Next up at The Studio Players is Annie Baker’s Circle Mirror Transformation, in which five strangers gather in a dance studio to embark upon a unique journey in their creative drama class for adults. Hollis Galman plays the part of Marty, the free-spirited leader of the group. Hollis Galman is a Naples resident who made her directorial debut with The Studio Players in Walter Cronkite Is Dead. She has appeared in a number of Off-Broadway productions. Her most recent stage credits include the larger-than-life role of Masha in Vandy and Sonia and Masha and Spike, which represented her Studio Players’ debut. Go here for more. Circle Mirror Transformation opens November 27.

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Gerrie Benzing plays former actress in Studio Players’ ‘Circle Mirror Transformation’

Next up at The Studio Players is Annie Baker’s Circle Mirror Transformation, in which five strangers gather in a dance studio to embark upon a unique journey in their creative drama class for adults. Gerrie Benzing plays the part of one of the students in that class, Theresa, an earnest former actress. Gerrie has performed in more than 14 productions at Cultural Park Theater, the Laboratory Theater of Florida and Theatre Conspiracy at the Alliance for the Arts, but this role marks her Studio Players debut. Go here to see Gerrie’s impressive stage and other credits, and go here for an interview Gerrie gave Art Southwest Florida in August of 2019 that provides insight into her deep and abiding love of all things theater.

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Rosie DeLeon plays Lauren in Studio Players ‘Circle Mirror Transformation’

Next up at The Studio Players is Annie Baker’s Circle Mirror Transformation, in which five strangers gather in a dance studio to embark upon a unique journey in their creative drama class for adults. Rosie DeLeon will appear as Lauren, a reserved and self-conscious high schooler who takes the class. Rosie DeLeon is best known in theater circles as a talented, go-to sound and lighting director/technician. But she has also appeared often on the boards at various Lee County venues. Go here to see her stage credits.

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2    THEATER

Galyean, Reed and Sanders star in Alliance’s ‘Laundry and Bourbon’

Laundry and Bourbon plays one more weekend on the Alliance’s GreenMarket stage, with performances at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, November 27 & 28 and a 3:00 p.m. closing matinee on Sunday, November 29. Directed by Sonya McCarter, the show stars Dena Galyean, Shelley Sanders and Anne Reed. Sonya McCarter directs.

The action centers on the discontent and hilarious gossip of three small-town wives whose marriages have turned out to be less than they’d hoped.

Go here for the rest of his preview.

And go here for play dates, times and ticket information.

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Helping Elizabeth, Hattie and Amy Lee choose the best ‘Laundry and Bourbon’ blend

Laundry and Bourbon plays one more weekend on the Alliance’s GreenMarket stage, with performances at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, November 27 & 28 and a 3:00 p.m. closing matinee on Sunday, November 29. Directed by Sonya McCarter, the show stars Dena Galyean, Shelley Sanders and Anne Reed. They play three Texas women named Elizabeth (a housewife whose Vietnam veteran husband has been missing for two days), Hattie (whose rambunctious children wreak havoc wherever they go) and Amy Lee (born into poverty but now married to money). The gals have many interests in common, including a penchant for gossip and predilection for bourbon.

Bourbon takes its name from a county in Kentucky. As American as apple pie, bourbon is made from corn based (at least 51%) along with malt, wheat and rye. The blend is then aged from two to ten years in oak barrels.

There are virtually hundreds of different brands, and choosing the blend that matches your tastes and temperament is something of an art, although there’s a lot to be said for experimentation and trial and error.

The rest of this article is here.

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Drexler and Grey reunite for ‘Parallel Lives: The Kathy and Mo Show Abridged’

Coming to the Alliance’s GreenMarket stage December 3-12 is Parallel Lives: The Kathy and Mo Show Abridged. It consists of a series of comic vignettes written in 1986 by Kathy Najimy and Mo Gaffney and updated and revived (hence, “abridged”) by Gioia Marchese and Emily Schweitz). The show reunites Lauren Drexler and Kathy Grey as capricious goddesses and more.

Go here for the rest of this advance, and here for play dates, times and ticket information.

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Great American Trail Park Christmas Musical at Off Broadway Palm thru Dec. 26

The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical is on stage in the Off Broadway Palm through December 26. It’s Christmastime in Armadillo Acres mobile home community in Starke, Florida and everyone is filled with visions of kegnog and beer. But while the residents are preparing to decorate for a holiday contest, a new Scrooge-like resident begins to wreak havoc on the festivities.

Betty, Linoleum, Pickles and Rufus are bound and determined to break the “Armadillo Acres curse” and finally win this year’s contest for the most festive trailer park in Northern Florida, but newcomer Darlene is having none of it. Her trailer is sans decorations save for a few “no trespassing” signs. What ensues is a cat-fightin’, sun-worshippin’, chair-throwin’ rowdy good time!

The show stars Rachel Endrizzi (A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Show, Don’t Dress for Dinner), Rachael Lord (Snow White in LabTV’s Disenchanted: Stay-At-Home Version, In Flight: The Story of Sabine Van Dam for Gulfshore Playhouse), Ken Quiricone, Erica Sample (Judy Haynes in White Christmas, Roxy Hart in Chicago for The Naples Players), Dianne Stone Fussaro (Murder in Paradise) and Rob Summers. The show runs through December 26.

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‘Holiday Inn the Broadway Musical’ opens at Broadway Palm on November 18

Holiday Inn the Broadway Musical comes to the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre mainstage beginning November 19. This heart-warming story follows Jim as he leaves the bright lights of show business as well as his dance partner and fiance’ to settle down in a farmhouse in Connecticut. His luck takes a turn for the better when he meets a spirited schoolteacher by the name of Linda who has talent to spare. Together, they turn the farmhouse into a seasonal inn with show-stopping performances to celebrate each holiday from Thanksgiving to the Fourth of July. But when Jim’s best friend, Ted, tries to lure Linda away to be his new dance partner in Hollywood, will Jim be able to salvage his latest chance at love?”

Based on the 1942 film starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, the Holiday Inn plot serves as the perfect backdrop for spectacular choreography and such Irving Berlin classics “Shaking the Blues Away,” “Blue Skies,” “Easter Parade,” “Heat Wave,” Cheek to Cheek,” “It’s a Lovely Day Today” and “White Christmas.”

The show runs through December 26. Please go here for show pricing, times and dates or call the box office at 239-278-4422. Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre is located in Royal Palm Plaza, which is located at 1380 Colonial Boulevard in Fort Myers.

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CFABS Community Players offer bit of Elvis this holiday season

The Centers for the Arts Bonita Springs is offering a bit of Elvis this holiday season with playwright Luigi Jannuzzi’s heart-warming comedy All the King’s Women December 3-6 at the Center for Performing Arts in the Moe Auditorium and Film Center. The play follows the lives of 15 women and the effect that Elvis had on them over the course of his career. With sketches centered around Elvis, audiences see the changing times through the years – from when Elvis purchased his first guitar to meeting Nixon, Andy Warhol’s Factory workers trying to sell Elvis on art, and even meeting a guard of Graceland in the days following the King’s passing.

“It’s seriously funny stuff,” says the Centers’ Theatre Director Frank Blocker. “The play also celebrates women’s progress over the years as well as the changing times of the country and the world.”

As an early Christmas present, the Center is giving away a Bradford Exchange commemorative Elvis plate at each performance.

“So, we’re truly serving up Elvis on a platter here,” quipped Blocker, who has directed several productions in Atlanta and New York and has recently taken on all theater-related programming at the Centers, including youth productions.

The play premiered at the Way-Off Broadway Theatre and has been a staple across the United States ever since. The playwright, Jannuzzi, is well-known for his monologues and short plays, having been a Samuel French finalist more than a dozen times and was a recipient of a Goshen Playwriting Peace Prize.

The cast includes Kim Bradshaw, Patti Caroli, Leeanne Chiaramonte, Shaun Cott, Rose Curreri, Brianna Rodriguez Day, Melissa Hennig, Judy Koloski, Cindy Hile, Terry Libby, Sofia Rivera, Leslie Sanderson, Marilyn Schweitzer, and Jennifer Valiente. Kip Jones plays the guard, and Vic Caroli and Dave Elliot provide radio announcer voiceovers.

Joining Blocker on the creative team producing the show is Assistant Director and Stage Manager Toni Palumbo.

All the King’s Women performs December 3-6, with shows at 7:00 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, and 2:00 p.m. matinees on Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00pm. For tickets and information, please call 239-495-8989 or visit artcenterbonita.org.

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CFABS Community Players holding ‘Funny Shorts LIVE!’ auditions December 8 & 9

The CFABS Community Players is holding open auditions for Funny Shorts LIVE! on December 8 & 9 in the Moe Auditorium at the Center for Performing Arts, 10150 Bonita Beach Road, Bonita Springs, Florida 34135. Funny Shorts LIVE! is comprised of six hilariously funny short plays. They’ll be performed at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, January 15. Funny Shorts LIVE! is an extension of the Center’s wildly popular Stage IT! 10-Minute Play Festival, an annual competition and book publication that draws playwrights from around the world.

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5       ART FESTIVALS

2020-2021 season now covered in Art Festival Calendar on ARTSWFL

Given COVID-19, no one really knows what to expect from Southwest Florida’s 2020-2021 art fair and festival season. At present, Florida has re-opened all venues, most at full capacity, and organizers are proceeding on the premise that they will be able to produce their outdoor art fairs and festivals as they have in the past. So subject to that caveat, here are the outdoor art fairs and festivals you will see throughout Southwest Florida between October, 2020 and April 30, 2021.

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Naples Downtown Art Show application deadline is December 11

The Naples Art Association will begin accepting applications for inclusion in its Naples Downtown Art Show beginning on August 30. The 33rd Annual Downtown Naples Festival of the Arts is one of the last major art festivals of the winter season and a favorite festival for artists, art enthusiasts and collectors.

This festival was rated #24 by Sunshine Artist’s Magazine 2019.

If you would like to exhibit in this show, here’s what you will need to know:

• Dates: Saturday and Sunday, March 20-21, 2021
• Festival Hours: Saturday: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Sunday: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
• Location: 5th Avenue South, Downtown Naples
• Accept 250 artists max
• Application fee: $35
• Booth fee: $450 for 10×10
• Cancellation refund policy: February 12, 2021 full refund for artist withdrawal (subject to $75 in deposit forfeiture and $25 processing fee)
• Set up specifics: 4 a.m., early morning set up only;
• On street set up in quads: No electrical
• Application deadline: December  11, 2020
• Jury Process begins: December 18, 2020
• Status Notification: December 29, 2020
• Booth Fee Due: January 20, 2021
• Artist Info Emailed: March 2, 2021
• Wait List Acceptance: January 20, 2021

Last year’s show was cancelled and launched virtually due to COVID-19. Naples Art’s website has yet been updated to provide a prospectus, application or key dates for the 2021 show.

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6      PUBLIC  ART

Almonicid, Schlake to join forces on ‘Buck’s Backyard’ mural

Fort Myers’ Public Art Committee has approved a plan by the Fort Myers Mural Society to have finalists JP Almonicid and Erik Schlake join forces on the Buck’s Backyard mural project that is to be installed on the block wall separating historic McCollum Hall from the adjoining residential neighborhood to the north. The ambitious 2,440-square-foot project will cover seventeen concrete panels, each measuring eight feet high by eighteen feet wide. Although the artists’ mural styles are radically different, Fort Myers Mural Society Director Shari Shifrin assured the Committee that the size and scope of the project will benefit from a blend of the design concepts that Almonacid and Schlake presented to the Public Art Committee on September 15.

Go here for the rest of this report.

7     FILM

FMFF Season 11 starts with the resumption of TGIM on December 7

The Fort Myers Film Festival starts its 11^th season with the resumption of T.G.I.M. on Monday, December 7. As in years past, T.G.I.M. gives area cineastes a look at how the Fort Myers Film Festival views submissions and a voice in the selection process.

“This is one of the highlights of our season,” says Melissa Tschari DeHaven, producer and co-host of T.G.I.M. and the Fort Myers Film Festival, who is excited for a full season of film. “It’s so much fun! Everyone loves coming out on Monday nights. There’s always something happening that you wouldn’t expect on a weeknight.”

Go here for the rest of this advance.

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Laura Lorusso one of the writers in Lab’s 24-Hour Screenwriting Challenge

One of the writers who’ve accepted Lab Theater’s 24-Hour Screenwriting Challenge this year is Laura Lorusso. Laura has been an active in the local theater community for nearly twenty years, both as an actor and as a make-up artist. But what she really aspires to be is an accomplished playwright, and she’s already taken several steps in that direction.

Her crowning achievement to date has been a farce titled June & Jason’s Survival Guide to Divorce, which was produced in 2018 by The Naples Players. Rife with rib-splitting jokes and surprising situational comedy, the play delivers the same kind of laughs as ‘90s-era sitcoms.

Go here for more.

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‘Langford Manor,’ or a place in the woods for solving an age-old murder mystery

Laura Lorusso was one of four writers who participated in Lab Theater’s 24-Hour Screenwriting Challenge. Laura has been an active in the local theater community for nearly twenty years, both as an actor and as a make-up artist. But from the vantage of playwriting, Laura is fondly remembered by Lab Theater patrons for Divorce, Neighbors and Zombies, a comedy that received a staged reading at The Lab and later developed into a two-act farce that was performed by The Naples Players in 2018 under the direction of Jessica Walck as June & Jason’s Survival Guide to Divorce. Go here for the rest of this summary.

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Kinley Gomez tests her mettle in Lab’s 24-Hour Screenwriting Challenge

Kinley Gomez has set her sights on film. While she’s primarily interested in the medium as an actor, she’s also spent some time as an ersatz screenwriter. In fact, the Canterbury School senior was among a handful of talented applicants who participated over this past summer in the University of Southern California’s vaunted advanced summer screenwriting program (which went virtual due to COVID-19). So what better way to hone her skills and test her mettle than participate in Lab Theater’s 24-Hour Screenwriting Challenge? So tonight, she’s ensconced at home hammering out a screenplay for 5-8 minute one-shot film that will screen tomorrow night beginning at 8:00 p.m. The catch – she has just 10 hours to produce the script! Go here for more on Kinley.

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Darlyne Franklin shifts gears into screenwriting

Darlyne Franklin is an actor, playwright and producer. She participated in  Laboratory Theater 24-Hour Playwriting Challenge in 2018 and 2019. But this year, she is making the shift to writing a script for a 5-8 minute one-shot film as part of Lab Theater’s COVID-revamped 24-Hour Screenwriting Challenge. Darlyne’s writing and production credits include Joey & Maria’s Comedy Italian Wedding (1992), The Wake of Matty O’Malley, Wicked Real Housewives of the Mob and The Soprano’s Last Supper. Darlyne’s recent work includes The Biscotti Sisters (a campy, corny show in which two Italian sisters battle it out in a cookie bake-off) and Wicked Real Housewives of Boston, which opened in the Boston area in 2010.  You’ll find the rest of Darlyne’s profile here.

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‘Florida Couple,’ or fowl play with Ray and Jolene

Darlyne Franklin was one of four writers who participated in Lab Theater’s 24-Hour Screenwriting Challenge. Franklin is an actor, playwright and producer. Her writing and production credits include Joey & Maria’s Comedy Italian Wedding (1992), The Wake of Matty O’Malley, Wicked Real Housewives of the Mob and The Soprano’s Last Supper. Darlyne’s recent work includes The Biscotti Sisters (a campy, corny show in which two Italian sisters battle it out in a cookie bake-off) and Wicked Real Housewives of Boston, which opened in the Boston area in 2010. Go here to read about her film, Florida Couple.

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Stephen Hooper ventures into the world of screenwriting

Stephen Hooper is an actor, director and playwright whose career in theater spans more than three decades. Stephen is also a member of Theatre Conspiracy’s Playwrights. His most recent writing venture consisted of a screenplay for a 5-8 minute one-shot film for Lab Theater’s 24-Hour Screenwriting Challenge. Go here to access Stephen’s full profile.

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‘Boxed In,’ roommates who share more than just a space

Stephen Hooper was one of four writers who participated in Lab Theater’s 24-Hour Screenwriting Challenge. Hooper is an actor, director and playwright whose career in theater spans more than three decades. He can currently be seen in the role of Dr. Ted in Lab Theater’s filmed theatrical production of The Realish Housewives of Fort Myers, and before that he’d last appeared as Judge Gaffney in the Alliance’s production of the timeless Mary Chase classic, Harvey. His favorite directing credits include Three Days of Rain, A Tuna Christmas, Becky’s New Car, Kayak, The Book of Liz and, most recently, Repossessed. Stephen is also a member of Theatre Conspiracy’s Playwrights. Stephen titled his screenplay Boxed In.

Go here to read about the film.