Online theater this weekend includes a special project
Three more online opportunities this weekend to get your theater fix: An old favorite, something new and a special project. Here we go.
‘Wanzie With a Z’:
The old favorite in question is “Wanzie With a Z,” a big autobiographical hit for local playwright producer Michael Wanzie. The show won the 2017 Critics Choice Award for best ensemble acting at the Orlando Fringe Festival as performers Josh Lefkowitz, Joshua Roth and Wanzie himself played the man at various ages. The version to be streamed, recorded during the 2018 Fringe Winter Mini Fest, features that awardwinning cast directed by Kenny Howard.
“The beauty of this well-crafted show is that you don’t have to know Wanzie at all to be moved by the story and take away your own lessons about life,” I wrote in my review. “‘Wanzie With a Z’ is for anyone who has loved, lost, grieved, pined and learned to laugh again, all the while feeling out of place in this truth-is-strangerthan-fiction world.”
The show premieres at 8 p.m. Aug. 1. Tickets are $10 for unlimited views through Aug. 15. Go to eventbrite.com/o/wanzie-presents-17618
854660 (or just search Wanzie Presents at Eventbrite.com).
‘Once on This Island’:
Osceola Arts presents a new streamed production of the musical “Once on This Island” through Aug. 9. Showtimes are 2 and 7:30 p.m. daily.
“Once on This Island” tells the story of a young Caribbean peasant girl who falls in love with a boy outside of her social class. Through her actions, she tangles with the gods themselves to prove love is stronger than death.
The production, which was originally to be presented to an in-person audience in March, has been restaged to respect social distancing by director Dominic Del Brocco. Tickets are $20, with 75% of sales benefiting Greater We Are, a nonprofit providing academic and other opportunities to underserved youths.
For tickets or more information, go to
OsceolaArts.org/theatre or call 407-846-6257.
‘Much Ado About OCA’:
Running Man Theatre Company, a troupe of performers with special needs, will present an original Shakespeare-inspired comedy, beginning at 2 p.m. July 31 on the OCA Facebook page and YouTube channel.
OCA, which stands for Opportunity, Community, Ability, is a local nonprofit serving those with autism or other disabilities. Artistic director Marianne DiQuattro and students at Rollins College, where she teaches, devised the play about Shakespearean characters for OCA’s annual Theater Week.
Company members, ages 15-30, rehearsed online during July, before recording the show following CDC guidelines and social distancing. On set, actors and crew wore masks until the recording started, and stayed six feet apart, said OCA executive director Silvia Haas — who has a comedic cameo in the show. The performers are wearing costumes on loan from the Rollins theater department.
“Isolation is a real problem for our kids and during the quarantine, it was important for us to find ways to connect safely,” Haas said. “By filming the show, we’ve been able to keep the connection that Theater Week develops and provide an incredible experience for everyone involved.”
For more information about OCA programs, go to GoOCA.org.