Great theatre - Past and Present
our 2023-2024 SEASON
Three days before his re-election, a US Senator has a life-altering crisis of faith which sends the entire campaign into a tailspin. He decides to finally tell the public exactly what’s on his mind, no filter. What could possibly go wrong?
His wife and campaign manager try to contain the damage, but in a country where religion influences politics and politics have become a religion, how do you reach the people and stay true to yourself? A timely and fast-paced story that is simultaneously funny, heartbreaking, and uplifting.
“Crackling…enjoyable, thought-provoking, and humorous.
I wish every member of Congress would see it” – NPR
A serious comedy – Honest to God!
Church & State is a fast-paced dramedy about faith, politics, and “The Twitter.”
(No Senators were harmed in the making of this play.)
Presented at The Waterworks
184 San Marco Avenue, St.Augustine Florida, 32084
A STAGED READING
'ART'
November 3, 2023 - 7:30pm
One of Marc’s best friends, Serge, has just bought a very expensive painting. It’s about five feet by four, all white with white diagonal lines. To Marc, the painting is a joke, but Serge insists Marc doesn’t have the proper standard to judge the work. Another friend, Ivan, though burdened by his own problems, allows himself to be pulled into this disagreement. Eager to please, Ivan tells Serge he likes the painting. Lines are drawn and these old friends square off over the canvas, using it as an excuse to relentlessly batter one another over various failures. As their arguments become less theoretical and more personal, they border on destroying their friendships. At the breaking point, Serge hands Marc a felt tip pen and dares him: “Go on.” This is where the friendship is finally tested, and the aftermath of action, and its reaction, affirms the power of those bonds.
Presented at The Center for Spiritual Living
1795 Old Moultrie Rd., St Augustine, 32084
With warm-hearted wit and infectious joy, Silent Sky tells the riveting true story of Henrietta Leavitt, a pioneering scientist in an age when women couldn’t even vote.
When Henrietta Leavitt begins work at the Harvard Observatory in the early 1900s, she isn’t allowed to touch a telescope or express an original idea. Instead, she joins a group of women “computers,” charting the stars for a renowned astronomer. The true story of 19th-century astronomer Henrietta Leavitt explores a woman’s place in society during a time of immense scientific discoveries, when women’s ideas were dismissed until men claimed credit for them. Henrietta Leavitt changed the way we understand both the heavens and Earth.
A mesmerizing drama that’s full of wonder, humor and heart.
“…sheer magic [is] in Lauren Gunderson’s Silent Sky… Gunderson [writes] economically and with bursts of smart, infectious humor.” San Francisco Chronicle
This production is made possible with additional support from Michael Lipp
Presented at The Waterworks
184 San Marco Avenue, St. Augustine
A STAGED READING
Salon de Paris
An original play by St. Augustine's own Amy Lauer Goldin.
Cultures collide amid the faded elegance of a salon catering to a refined “mature” clientele, when pierced and punked-out parolee Mikey Dorsey talks proprietor Mr. Rene into a desperately needed job, much to the consternation of the cantankerous staff.
January 12, 2024 - 7:30pm
Presented at The Center for Spiritual Living
1795 Old Moultrie Rd., St Augustine
A STAGED READING
For Whom the
Southern Belle Tolls
In this parody of THE GLASS MENAGERIE, the fading Southern belle, Amanda, tries to prepare her hyper-sensitive, hypochondriacal son, Lawrence, for "the feminine caller." Terrified of people, Lawrence plays with his collection of glass cocktail stirrers. Ginny, the feminine caller, is hard of hearing and overbearingly friendly. Brother Tom wants to go the movies, where he keeps meeting sailors who need to be put up in his room. Amanda tries to face everything with "charm and vivacity," but sometimes she just wants to hit somebody.
February 9, 2024 - 7:30pm
Presented at The Center for Spiritual Living
1795 Old Moultrie Rd., St Augustine
Something’s about to change for Mrs. Shirley Bradshaw - mother of grown children and bored housewife. After decades of dull married life, hamburger dinners every Thursday and talking to the kitchen wall, her former self – the fearless Shirley Valentine – is itching to get out. She dreams about life beyond the wall, and the possibility of “drinking wine in a country where the grape is grown."
She’s ready to change everything. Even the wall.
Tony Award Nominee for Best Play | Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play
Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy
Presented at The Waterworks
184 San Marco Avenue St. Augustine
March 1, 2, 8, 9, 2024 • Matinees March 3, 10, 2024
A STAGED READING
Other Desert Cities
April 12, 2024 - 7:30pm
Brooke Wyeth returns home to Palm Springs after a six-year absence to celebrate Christmas with her parents, her brother, and her aunt. Brooke announces that she is about to publish a memoir dredging up a pivotal and tragic event in the family's history—a wound they don't want reopened.
Presented at The Center for Spiritual Living
1795 Old Moultrie Rd., St Augustine
The fun begins with the first act, from the musical The Apple Tree. The Diary of Adam and Eve is one of three short musicals included in The Apple Tree, music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick. Based on a short story by Mark Twain, this delightful one act musical follows Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden as they discover their world, each other and...... that snake.
We have several ACT favorites for this production, including Jason Whitfield (Lullaby of Broadway, Cox and Box-Penelope Ann’s Revenge), Anna Vera (Silent Sky, Salon de Paris), and Dexter McDaniel (The Immigrant, The Lifespan of a Fact).
Act 2 wraps up the theme with various scenes and songs about couples and relationships, featuring Jessica Racaniello (Sylvia, Church and State), Joseph Stearman (Sylvia), David Abraham (Sylvia, Lullaby of Broadway, Salon de Paris), Erika Weber (For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls, Wanda's Visit) Jeffry Schaeffer and Jeanne Walti.
Adding to that age-old story, Couples will include some of Broadway's best duets of love and marriage.
“…the most charming and witty musical imaginable,” -Daily News
“…something comic, satirical, tender or pleasantly musical happening every minute” - World Journal Tribune