I am so excited about March at Play With Your Food I can hardly stand it. I think about casting all the time. Once we pick the plays, all we talk about is who will play what part and who can we get that’ll be fabulous. It’s fun and it’s challenging and not a little anxiety provoking. When it comes together, it’s pretty exciting.

Yesterday was a very good day:

Josh Sienkiewicz is coming back. Great guy. First rate actor. The kind of guy you want around.. who sort of shrugs his shoulders and dives in. We rehearsed in the city with a terrific young actor named Dustin Sullivan, who’s worked with us in Greenwich but hasn’t been to Westport yet. Nancy discovered some really helpful ‘playwright’ notes on the play, so we’re feeling like Rich Orloff’s I Didn’t Know You Could Cook will be up to speed and ready for our first audience on Tuesday, March 6th.

I walked out of Ripley Greer Rehearsal studios with a huge smile on my face, only to run into our original dance captain from A Chorus Line on Broadway, Baayork Lee. Aside from directing all over the world, she is the ‘keeper of the flame’ so to speak, when it comes to A Chorus Line, and spreads the news as to who’d doing what. This month, she will feature Play With Your Food and our Gala on her Wong Notes (Connie Wong was the character she played in the original cast.. all those years ago) on the Chorus Line web site. Who knows.. maybe we’ll gather some of that original cast for a future Play With Your Food event!

Next rehearsal:

It just knocks me out that I get to sit around and read a play and then talk about it with E. Katheine Kerr and Tom Zingarelli – such good actors who are such good friends. Katherine is a brilliant Obie Award winning actress who ‘killed’ last summer in Fred Stroppel’s Pillow at the Weston Library. Tom has been a PWYF favorite since the beginning. I’m convinced he can do anything.

The characters in the play are actors who have spent their lives working in the theater. Maybe that’s why we’ve all been having strong emotional reactions to I Know, the play they’ll be doing together in Westport and Fairfield in March. I’m not exaggerating when I say we spent the evening laughing out loud and crying real tears. How often do you get to do that! One more play to rehearse and we’re ready to rock and roll.

I’ve been asking myself what it is about this particular group of plays I like so much. After hearing them out loud, it occurred to me that, even though in two of the plays the situation is somewhat serious, every one of the characters has a finely tuned unique sense of humor. The writing is real and warm and has that ring of truth that you look for, and in addition, the characters deal with life by going for the joke. My kind of people.

photo by Pamela Einarsen Photography

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On the evening of January 28^th, Play With Your Food celebrated its 10th anniversary with a sell out crowd at Dragone Classic Motorcars in Westport.  With fine wine and spirits and delectable delights, Play With Your Food fans were treated to a rousing performance of Two For The Road, a musical revue created by Carole Schweid and set against a backdrop of  a 1937 Cadillac Fleetwood Limo and a 1939 Chevy Woody Suburban. The show featuring comic works by playwright Fred Stroppel, classic musical selections 

and the talent of PWYF regulars: Norman Allen, Heather Corrigan, Mia Dillon, David Harris, Patricia Kalember, Barbara Rhoades, Susan Terry, Richard Weidlich and Nadine Willig. A good time was had by all, and necessary funds were raised to support Play With Your Food and other programs of JIB Productions, Inc.

~Thank you to all our generous sponsors~

FERRARI SPONSORS

Deane, Inc.; Pat Kery Fine Arts,Inc.; Westport Resources, Inc.
Anonymous Friend; Get in Shape for Women; Shelley & Michael Kassen;
Ann Sheffer & Bill Scheffler and more… 

Catering Sponsors: Blue Lemon, Garelick & Herbs, Matsu Sushi  and more…

~ Enjoy our Photo Album of the Evening ~

Play With Your Food

• Fairfield
• Westport
• Greenwich

Play With Your Food continues to attract a sell out crowd. When you come to Play With Your Food, you arrive at noon for a buffet lunch catered by one of our local gourmet restaurants, then settle in for a program of clever, provocative one-act plays, read by terrific professional actors. After a short discussion with the actors, and often a playwright or two, everyone goes back to work. It’s an opportunity for people to gather over lunch, and then enjoy stimulating short plays by both award-winning and emerging playwrights.

Seasons Readings

Thursday, December 8 7:30 – 9:00pm at the Greenwich Arts Council Thursday, December 15 7:30 – 9:00pm at the Westport Woman’s Club 44 Imperial Ave $24 Prix-fixe dinner options at: Blue Lemon Restaurant or Da Pietro’s 203.454.1213 Tickets $30 Capture the holiday spirit with short plays, stories and surprises! In this lineup of heartfelt holiday humor, outlandish playwright Frederick Stroppel offers The Land of Sweets; Ann Patchett recounts a memory of her father in How to Read a Christmas Story; David Sedaris tells a torturous tale of working as an elf in Santaland; Wolcott Gibbs, in the riotous Ring Our Wild Bells, gives a new meaning to the expression ‘with bells on;’ and Matt Hoverman explores the pull between past disasters and present possibilities in his play, Going Home.

Featuring: Norman Allen, Bob MacDonald, Florence Phillips, Susan Terry, Susan Vanech

Join the cast afterward for eggnog and dessert by The Pantry!

Here’s a story. My friend Barbara came to town from Tucson so of course we went to the city to see a Show. We were feeling kind of blue, so we decided that Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was the perfect show for us. It’s a musical about three drag queens traveling thru the Australian Outback.. on a bus.. to put on a show. Priscilla is the name of the bus.

The show is loud and raunchy, with sequins, pop music and crazy wigs and costumes. Yet we found ourselves completely taken in by the story, and both in tears by the end of the second act. As each of the main characters found his ‘place’ in the world, and connected with something that had real meaning – a friend, a surprising romance, a son – we were completely swept away by the humanity, and the depth of feelings that were the underpinnings of this noisy, glitzy musical.

My old friend Phoebe Brand, a member of the Group Theatre way back in the ‘30’s, used to say that every good play was a political play. I think she was right. I also think that if you’re gonna write a good play, ‘you gotta have heart.’ That underneath all the jokes and the glitz, whether it be comedy, drama, farce or fantasy, a good play is about human nature: about all of our struggles to connect with each other in some meaningful way. Last year at Play With Your Food, Lynette at 3 am and Mark Twain’s Adam and Eve and South Pacific fell into this category This season, we’re looking at the words of John and Abigail Adams, Agatha Christie, David Sedaris and George Bernard Shaw, which we hope will do the same.

As we pick the plays for the 2012, I remind myself of what we’re looking for, and what we’ve always been looking for – plays with heart, humanity, and fabulous gowns that glow in the dark!

See y’all soon

Carole

PS

On Thursday, November 3^rd, JIB Productions will be one of the not-for-profits of the week at the Farmer’s Market in Westport.  Since we are in the final phase of choosing plays for our 2012 season, we will be reading Jack Rushen’s All The King’s Men at 11:00 am, 12:00 noon and 1:00 pm. Take a break from shopping and join us for this 5 minute play. Feedback is always welcome.

Susan Sarandon and Christopher Walken
in “Who Am I This Time?”

Thursday, October 20
Thursday, November 17

7:30 – 9:30pm: Films, Popcorn,
Dessert and Discussion

Tickets $25

Pre-film prix fixe dinner option
at Nicolas Roberts Bistro

At the Garden Cinemas
26 Isaac Street, Norwalk

Screen rarely seen short films by acclaimed directors Jonathan Demme, Tim Burton, Joan Micklin Silver and Wes Anderson. We’ll also view the
2011 Live Action and Animated Shorts Oscar Winners. Free popcorn!

Discussion led by Connecticut Post Film Critic Joe Meyers.

Thursday, October 20*

Hotel Chevalier (2007)  by Wes Anderson with Natalie Portman and Jason Schwartzman
The Lost Thing (2010, Australia) by Shaun Tan & Andrew Ruhemann
Who Am I This Time? (1982) by Jonathan Demme with Christopher Walken and Susan Sarandon

Thursday, November 17*

God of Love (2010) by Luke Matheny
Vincent (1982) by Tim Burton
Bernice Bobs Her Hair (1976) by Joan Micklin Silver with Shelley Duval

 

*Films pending rights approval
Sponsored by the Garden Homes Foundation

]]> http://jibproductions.org/?feed=rss2&p=148 0 http://jibproductions.org/?p=161 http://jibproductions.org/?p=161#comments Mon, 01 Aug 2011 21:15:14 +0000 admin http://jibproductions.com/?p=161

JIB Productions, Inc. is a premiere not-for-profit producer of professional performing and visual arts programs in Fairfield County, CT.

With a mission to provide first-rate programming to local communities, the company was founded in 2003 by Executive Producer Nancy Diamond and Artistic Director Carole Schweid.  In partnership with both traditional and non-traditional venues, JIB presents thought-provoking, innovative and relevant programs designed to engage theatre-goers in a shared meaningful experience.

Currently on the boards for JIB’s 2011/12 Season:

PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD, JIB’s ‘flagship’ program, heads into its 10^th season in January, serving up lunch, short plays, and interesting conversation for audiences in Westport, Fairfield and Greenwich.

SHORT CUTS  will screen Oscar winning shorts – live action and animated – as well as short films by such accomplished filmmakers as Jonathan Demme, Tim Burton, Joan Miklin Silver and Wes Anderson.

SEASONS READINGS kicks off the holiday season with stories and short plays designed to entertain, inspire and help us get through the holidays by laughing at ourselves a little.

10^TH ANNIVERSARY GALA. As a not-for-profit company, JIB relies on tax-deductible contributions to keep our programs growing. What better way to raise funds than through a celebration of our 10^th anniversary?

JIB Productions also produces events for corporate conferences and parties, senior centers and schools, utilizing our library of more than 90 one-act plays. There is a theme and a play out there for everyone.

All JIB’s programming comes from the founders’ love of language and their desire to tell a good story in an interesting way.  If you’re interested in booking a JIB program for a special event, or are looking for an original approach, contact us at info@jibproductions.org. We’d love to work with you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

]]> http://jibproductions.org/?feed=rss2&p=161 0 http://jibproductions.org/?p=207 http://jibproductions.org/?p=207#comments Wed, 03 Aug 2011 01:50:35 +0000 admin http://jibproductions.com/?p=207

Just got back from a three-month trek to the West Coast, which included several weeks in Ashland, home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Ashland is like ‘Brigadoon,’ a small town just north of California in the Rogue Valley, surrounded by rolling mountains. It’s a beautiful place. The Festival has three theatres operating full time with 9 plays in revolving rep. This means there are 9 plays running, a company of 85 actors; every day at noon there’s a talk in the park or backstage at one of the theatres on some aspect of Shakespeare, or lighting design, or adapting a French farce. There are ‘show folk’ from all over the country there to absorb the atmosphere and share ideas. For a theatre professional, it’s Mecca.

I saw ‘Henry IV part 2′ one night and ‘Pirates of Penzance’ the next; 1200 people in blankets and sweatshirts watching theatre in under the clearest sky I’ve ever seen… I saw a remarkable ‘Julius Caesar,’ a ’60′s version of Molliere’s ‘The Imaginary Invalid,’ and a delightful ‘Loves Labors Lost’. There was lots of inspiration in the air.

Oddly enough, a small crisis took place when I was there.. a cracked support beam in one of the theatres made the festival relocate some performances. Since they could not move sets, lights and costumes, ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ and ‘August, Osage County’ had to be performed essentially as readings. They were brilliant. Everyone involved was relieved that these bare bones performances went over so well. As for me, knowing as I do that theatre is really about the writing and the acting, I wasn’t a bit surprised!

Went to three one-act festivals; met a bunch of West Coast playwrights’; did a ton of reading. The goal was to find new material and fresh ideas for Play With Your Food, which I did.

Carole Schweid
Artistic Director

]]> http://jibproductions.org/?feed=rss2&p=207 2 http://jibproductions.org/?p=264 http://jibproductions.org/?p=264#comments Thu, 04 Aug 2011 00:47:28 +0000 admin http://jibproductions.com/?p=264 ]]> http://jibproductions.org/?feed=rss2&p=264 0