Stagedoor

Your Dream of Me to be performed in Image Theater's Naughty Readings, Nov. 14, Lowell, MA

Your Dream of Me, one of Kelly's new comic monologues for ENVIA! At Work and Play, will be performed as part of Image Theater's 4th Annual Naughty Readings festival in Lowell, Saturday night, November 14 at 8:00 p.m. at The Old Court Tavern. 

Linda Sughrue, (pictured above during SWAN Day in Boston as ENVIA!), will perform this comic monologue that explores the roles she's willing to play in other people's dreams.

Image Theater, now in its 5th year, has produced new works of over 60 local playwrights. Other featured local playwrights for Nov. 14 include: Meron Langsner, Steven O'Connor, David Schrag, Jack F. Dacey, Karla Sorenson, Patrick Brennan, Michael Kimball, and songs by Steven Gilbane, Rene Pfister and Matthew Hanf.  Admission is $25 in advance by calling 978-441-0102.  Seating is limited. Tickets at the door are $28.

4th Annual Our Voices Women Playwrights Festival Coming February 27, 2010 to Regis College Black Box, Fine Arts Center, Weston, MA

The 4th Annual Our Voices Boston-area women playwrights festival will be produced on Feb. 27, 2010 at the

Regis College Black Box theater in the Fine Arts Center by Kelly DuMar and Image Theater, with Regis Faculty participation from playwright and professor Wendy Lement.  A call for plays with details about the festival will be announced soon.  If you would like to be on the e-mail list for more information, e-mail Kelly DuMar. 

Pictured here and above are last year's Our Voices Festival III participants at Turtle Lane Theatre.

Singing Over Your Bones selected for Culture Park Short Plays Marathon, New Bedford, Nov. 21

Kelly's new dramatic monlogue, Singing Over Your Bones, will be presented as a staged reading in the 8th Annual Culture Park Short Play Marathon to be held at Gallery X in New Bedford, MA., on November 21.  This is the fourth year one of Kelly's plays will be featured in the festival.  Past performances have included Kelly's Paradise Reserved, New Digs, and Eating Oreo's Cookie.  More info to follow.

Red Suitcase Playerz bring Special Memories to Life

[From the Council on Aging, Sherborn, MA: Pictured from left to right, front to back:  Tamar Barsamian, Lolly Bezahler, Meg Burke, Raffi Barsamian, Mari Giaimo, Kelly DuMar, Aleks Purins, Franci DuMar, Chris King] 

On September 27, 2009, a troupe of seven students from Dover-Sherborn Middle School and Pine Hill School delighted seniors and other local attendees at the Sherborn Community Center with their energy and creativity as they brought to life very special memories of days past.  Whether the topic was humorous or poignant, these students of the dramatic arts skillfully enacted “I remember when” stories offered by audience members and inspired discussion about the aspects of childhood experience that change and remain the same across the generations.

Local playwrights Kelly DuMar and Chris King, directors of the new student troupe, The Red Suitcase Playerz, encouraged and energized the young actors to hone their skills as they learn the art of Playback Theater, a special type of drama which is improvisational and highly interpretive. The program began with a series of warm-up exercises for the troupe and the audience and then followed with “memory sharing moments” by attendees which were then re-enacted by the Red Suitcase Playerz to the delight of the audience.

Laila Vehvilainen, director of the programs for the Council on Aging worked with Kelly DuMar  and Chris King in successfully crafting a multi-generational platform which appealed to seniors, children and adult residents.  This event was supported in part by a grant from the Sherborn cultural council, a local agency which is supported by the MA Cultural Council.

If you would like more information about the Red Suitcase Playerz and how you can become involved in a demonstration or event with them, please contact Kelly DuMar or e-mail redsuitcaseplays@aol.com.

"When I Was A Kid. . ." & Other Stories on Stage, Sept. 27, Sherborn, MA

This multigenerational storytelling and drama event will be held Sunday, September 27 at 2:00 p.m. at the 1858 Town House in Sherborn, MA.  This FREE event, led by Kelly DuMar and Chris King, will be a lively demonstration of Playback Theatre involving:

• Presenting personal stories of reflection and remembrance of childhood by local seniors and others
• Performance by a new troupe of Playback actors in training, The Red Suitcase Playerz 
• Celebrating the power of storytelling to create a sense of community awareness and connection 

This event is sponsored in part by a grant from the Sherborn Cultural Council with the support from the Sherborn Council on Aging.   

For more information, contact Laila Vehvilainen or call the COA at (508) 651-7858.

Rocky & Skye Performed in Built on Stilts Festival, August 2009

Selections from The Adventures of Rocky & Skye, Kelly's award-winning one-act collection of comic plays for youth, were performed twice during the Built on Stilts Festival, Martha's Vineyard August 14 & August 17, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. at Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs. This wonderful annual festival, now in its 13th year, always begins with an amazing and inspirational  drum circle at 7:30pm to entertain and warm-up the audience and performers. 

Although Built on Stilts is primarily a dance festival, other types of performances are considered for inclusion.  This recent performance of selections from Rocky & Skye written and directed by Kelly DuMar, featured Sam Burke as ROCKY, Franci DuMar as SKYE, Meg Burke as RATANI, and Huck Burke as GRANT.

The comic scenes that make up the Rocky & Skye one-act collection are specifically designed to be easy to produce in a variety of settings by first-time performers and directors or experienced actors with professional directors, without the necessity of props or set with easy-to-memorize lines and no more than 1-2 minutes in length each.  (Of course, props and set can be added if desired, but they are not required.) 

The Rocky & Skye one-act collection is built around comic scenes from Rocky and Skye's charming friendship from kindergarten through middle school. Each scene stands alone and can be combined with other scenes to create the perfect show for youth festivals and school performances.

The Built on Stilts performance included: "Bus Stop," "Spit! Slap! Shake!", "Kiss & Tell," "Dress, Hair, Flowers?" and "When the Bell Rings." 

Music for this performance is not required, but since this was a dance festival and music was featured in all the performances, the play opened and closed with an original song recorded by James Orrigo which delightfully captured the spirit of Rocky & Skye, "Laugh Out Loud."

The Built On Stilts Festival - "The Vineyard's homegrown dance and peformance festival" - was directed and produced by festival co-founder Abby Bender.

For more information about The Adventures of Rocky & Skye script and performance rights, please contact

Kelly DuMar. 

No Strings will be featured in Whistler Wednesdays, Jan. 27, 2010, Boston

         No Strings, one of Kelly's newest short plays, will have a directed developmental reading as part of Whistler In the Dark's Whistler Wednesdays - an evening of new short plays on January 27th at 7:30pm at The Factory Theatre, Boston.  About No Strings:  Two lost souls, Erin and Arron, meet their soul mates in an underground parking garage while reading oil spots like Rorschach ink blots.

No Strings was first read at Playwrights' Platformin the fall of 2008 and it was  featured as a staged reading in the Playwrights' Platform Our Voices Festival at Turtle Lane, Newton, April 2009. 

More info coming soon!

Selections from Rocky & Skye in Built on Stilts, Martha's Vineyard, August 14 & 17, 8:00 p.m.

Selections from The Adventures of Rocky & Skye, Kelly's one-act collection of plays for youth, will be performed during the Built on Stilts Festival, Martha's Vineyard August 14 & August 17, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. at Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs. Drum circle at 7:30pm (All are invited to bring their instruments and join in!) Performances begin at 8pm. Doors open at 7:30. This performance, directed by Kelly, features youth performers Meg Burke, Sam Burke, Huck Burke and Franci DuMar. This event is free and open to the public!

Rocky & Skye wins 2nd Place in North Dakota Festival

JACK DYVILLE, Festival Director, announced yesterday that nine finalists in a national call for play submissions for youth were performed by students aged 7-18 at the 4th annual SUMMER SHORTS 4: Celebration Festival at the Old Armory Theatre, Williston North Dakota June 23-25, 2009. Each of the plays was given three performances, attended by more than 300 people, and adjudicated each night by a different panel of five community theatre, high school and college theater artists who scored the plays.  A 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place was awarded, as well as an over-all Audience Award- Popular Vote.  The winners are:

1st PLACE
ANNIERELLA And The Very Awesome GOOD QUEEN FAIRY COWMOTHER
by Bobbi A, Chukran, Leander Texas

2nd PLACE
[Selections from] THE ADVENTURES OF ROCKY & SKYE
by Kelly DuMar, Sherborn, MA

3rd PLACE & Audience Choice Award
NICK TICKLE, FAIRY TALE DETECTIVE In Witch Crook Took The Book?
by STEPH DE FERIE, Harwich Massachusetts

Rehearsing with The Red Suitcase Playerz

I am forming a Playback Theatre Troupe to perform"When I was a Kid & Other Stories on Stage" an event sponsored by the Sherborn Council on Aging on September 28, 2009 at the Community Center in Sherborn, MA.  This is a picture of us rehearsing in the Sherborn Library theater on June 22.  At the upcoming event, sponsored by a Mass. Cultural Council Grant, we will solicit spontaneous childhood stories from the audience members and then "play them back" on stage.  Chris King, my playwright colleague from Playwrights' Platform and neighbor is co-facilitating with me.  For more information, contact Laila Vehvilainen from the Sherborn Council on Aging,

 

The inspiration for the name, The Red Suitcase Playerz, comes from a story I shared with the kids and audience recently at a demonstration of our Playback story project for the Council on Aging during Drop-in Lunch, about my favorite childhood playmate - my cousin Debbie - and the suitcase of her musical instruments my Aunt Dottie gave me for Christmas many years later after Debbie died of cystic fibrosis in her early twenties.  (Look carefully in the right rear of the photo and you will see the red suitcase!)

 

In the picture above, the kids have just spontaneously re-enacted a story about a man trying to enjoy a quiet dinner in a restaurant who is suddenly being surrounded by a bevvy of belly dancers! 

 

(Pictured from rear left: Meg Burke, Mari Giaimo, Tamar Barsamian, Franci DuMar; front left: Alecs Purins, Raffi Barsamian)

Rocky & Skye in Summer Shorts 4: Celebration, North Dakota, June 23-25

 

Selections from The Adventures of Rocky & Skye, Ratani & Grant, Kelly's new one-act collection of comic skits for youth, will be one of  nine plays performed by students aged 7-18 at the 4th annual SUMMER SHORTS Festival at the Old Armory Theatre, Williston North Dakota June 23-24-25, 2009, directed by Jack Dyville.

 

Each of the 9 Finalists will be given 3 performances at which time 5 different adjudicators each evening from the Communuty Theatre, and High School and College will score each play.  A 1^st, 2^nd, and 3rd place will be awarded plus an overall Audience Award- Popular Vote.  

The other selections include:

ANNIERELLA & THE (VERY AWESOME) GOOD QUEEN FAIRY COWMOTHER by Bobbi A. Chukran (Leander TX), ATTACK OF THE COOTIES by Zach Rothman-Hicks (New York, NY), DOG DAY AFTERNOON by Claudia Haas (White Bear Lake, MN), HAIR TODAY, GONE TOMORROW by Ron Frankel (New Lebanon NY), NICK TICKLE, FAIRY TALE DETECTIVE in: WITCH CROOK TOOK THE BOOK? By Steph DeFerie (Harwich MA), PREMATURE, by Russ Weeks (Seattle WA), THE GUITAR HERO by Kathy Coudle-King (Grand Forks ND) and THE TALE OF PETER RABBIT and BENJAMIN BUNNY by Evan Guilford-Blake (Stone Mountain GA).