Mad Cow Theatre plans festival, brings back favorites online
Two favorite plays of Mad Cow Theatre audiences will be revived this month as online readings, with reunions of original cast members and special “Drama Club” events going behind the scenes of the works and productions. Then in August, the downtown Orlando theater is planning its first “Women’s Voices” theater festival.
“Collected Stories,” by Donald Margulies, will be read by Piper Rae Patterson and Karel K. Wright at 7:30 p.m. July 8. The “Drama Club” discussion is at 6 p.m. July 9.
“Collected Stories” tells the story of grad student Lisa and her mentor, Ruth Stein. Both writers, as one’s star rises while the other’s fades, their relationship becomes increasingly complicated. I can vouch for the strength of this work and the performances by Wright and Patterson, who return to the roles.
“As Mad Cow Theatre’s fine production pulls you into the lives of two engrossing women, it becomes clear the playwright is examining something … thrilling: This play is about power,” I wrote in my 2013 review. “For there’s a delicate balance of power in every relationship, and when that balance shifts — through time, change, chance, choices and a million other factors out of our control — things get messy.”
Going even further into the vault, Dylan Thomas’s “Under Milk Wood” will be read at 7:30 p.m. July 15. Orlando poet laureate Susan Lilley will join the “Drama Club” discussion at 7:30 p.m. July 16.
Mad Cow originally produced “Under Milk Wood” in 2003. Original cast members Peg O’Keef, Rick Stanley, Jay Becker and Michelle Krause will be joined by Brian Brightman, Mark Edward Smith and Roberta Emerson, all familiar faces to Central Florida theatergoers for the online reading.
“Under Milk Wood” looks at springtime and love in a small Welsh village, a kind of “Our Town” for Britain.
“Words are precious in ‘Under Milk Wood,’ the gorgeous little ‘play for voices,’” wrote Elizabeth Maupin, then the Sentinel’s theater critic, in 2003 as she lauded the play’s words for holding court “in the most splendid, welcoming sense.”
And in her summation of the play’s story, take note of the interesting folks you’ll meet:
“It’s a day in the life of the seaside village of Llareggub, from the predawn moments in which the residents are lost in dreaming to the late-night drinking and loving and sighing of the breeze,” Maupin wrote. “No one gets married, no one dies, but the oddball inhabitants of Llareggub — the blind sea captain, the poeticizing clergyman and all the rest — still make themselves known.”
Both readings are free, with a $5 suggested donation. Drama Club events are $20. Patrons need to reserve a spot — even for the free readings — in order to receive the link to access the show. Go to boxffice.madcowtheatre.com.
‘Women’s Voices’
For its first “Women’s Voices” play festival, planned for Aug. 12-16, Mad Cow is seeking submissions of new work from female or female-identifying playwrights. The festival’s winning play will receive $300 and possibly a full production at
Mad Cow. For all the details on submitting, go to madcowtheatre.com/womensvoices-festival.
Find me on Twitter @matt_on_arts or email me at mpalm@orlandosentinel.com. Want more news about theater and other arts? Go to orlandosentinel.com/arts.