After a terrific season featuring the workshopping of three new plays, the Mobtown Playwrights Group has selected FOOLS CALL IT FATE, by Jessica McHugh, for a full production this summer. Six characters find themselves entwined in each other’s lives, sharing each other’s secrets, and enacting each other’s darkest fantasies of revenge, in this story of sex, coincidence, and an electronic cigarette.

The show opens July 22 and will …run three weekends, through August 6.

Auditions will be held May 17 and May 18 from 7pm until 9pm at the Mobtown Theater. Please bring a headshot and resume, but you do not need to prepare anything. Sides from the play will be provided. Any questions can be forwarded to the director, Mark C. Franceschin, at markcf2@gmail.com.

Characters:
Tara: Owner of a Baltimore-based muffin shop and bakery. Not happy about turning 30.
Ash: 30-something divorcee with a 7-year-old son. Interested in Tara.
Gabby: 30-something OB-GYN; formerly married to Ash; currently married to Richard, with whom she has a young son.
Richard: 30- to 45-year-old loan officer for a mortgage company; married to Gabby but having an affair with Sophie.
Sophie: late 20s; part-time bartender; confident that Richard will leave his wife for her.
Danny: late 20s; bartender and Sophie’s brother. Serial date-rapist.

***UPDATE***

We have added three more audition dates. Monday April 25th and Tuesday April 26th from 7 to 9 pm, and Saturday April 30 by appointment! Don’t miss your chance to be part of this play!

The Mobtown Players announce auditions for Ben Jonson’s hilarious 17th-century comedy, Epicoene: Or the Silent Woman! The show opens June 17 and runs for 4 weekends.

Auditions will be held April 17 from 5:00 to 7:00 PM, and April 18 and 20 from 7:00 to 9:00 PM.

Preparation of a 2 – 5 minute comedic monologue, classical if possible, is preferred but not necessary. Audition sides will be provided. For this play, we are looking for non-traditional casting. Gender and age is a suggestion for most roles, race is not a consideration.

To arrange an audition appointment, please email auditions@mobtownplayers.com. Walk-ins will also be accepted. Auditions will be held at:

The Mobtown Theater
3600 Clipper Mill Road
Ste 114
Baltimore, MD 21211

The Play:
Morose has decided to get married and thus cut his nephew, Dauphine, out of his will. The problem? He can stand NO NOISE and must have a demure – and quiet – bride. Trouble is, he’s having trouble finding one. So Dauphine and his friend Truewit conspire to produce the eponymous Epicoene, just such a silent woman. When the musicians, a gaggle of women, Jack Daw and La Foole (two foolish knights), Cutbeard the barber dressed as a Doctor of Canon Law, and a quarreling Mr. and Mrs. Tom Otter “crash” the nuptials, will anyone survive the wedding day? And if so, will Dauphine get the money? Championed by John Dryden as “the pattern of a perfect play,” Epicoene was penned by Ben Jonson – the second best playwright of the 17th century.

The Characters:
Morose – male, 50s, wealthy merchant, a cantankerous bastard who can stand no noise
Dauphine Eugenie – male, 20s, Morose’s nephew who stands to gain Morose’s fortune if he produces no heir
Clerimont – male (or female), 20′s – Dauphine’s friend
Truewit – male (or female), 20′s – Dauphine’s friend, a clown, a little full of himself, a bit of a libertine, ostentatious, flamboyant, but he is, truly, a wit
Tom Otter – male, 30s-40s, a henpecked husband
Mrs. Otter – female, 30s-40s, the henpecker, very worried about her place in society
Cutbeard – male (or female), 20s-30s – a barber
Sir Amorous La Foole – male, 30s, a pompous knight who supposes himself a lady’s man
Sir John Daw – male, 30s, a pompous knight who supposes himself learned – and a lady’s man
Mistress Haughty – female (or male?), 20s-30s, the leader of the collegiates, a sexpot
Mistress Centaure – female, 20s-30s, another collegiate, hopes to be Haughty
Mistress Trusty  - female, 20s-30s, another collegiate, but true

BREAKING NEWS:  Judas Charged with Treason; Trial Set for March 25

Baltimore, MD — Divine intent versus human free will – that is the issue when the Bible’s most notorious traitor goes on trial in Hampden this month. In the Mobtown Players’ new production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, a court is convened in downtown Purgatory, and defendant Judas faces testimony from a parade of witnesses that includes Mother Teresa, Mary Magdalene, Sigmund Freud, and Satan.

The production runs March 25 through April 16, with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm. Matinees are scheduled on Sundays, March 27 and April 3, at 4 pm.  The matinees will be followed by talkback sessions which allow the audience to discuss the play with the director and the cast.

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot marks Mark C. Franceschini’s first turn as director at Mobtown.  He oversees an extensive cast of Baltimore actors, some playing dual roles. They take on playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis’s rich dialogue, spoken in today’s street English, which fluctuates between humorous, shocking, elegant, and thought-provoking as it leads the audience to question the nature of Heaven and Hell.

Tickets are $15 (general admission) and $12 (students and seniors). Tickets may be purchased at the door or online at http://www.mobtownplayers.com. The Mobtown Theater is located in the Meadow Mill complex at 3600 Clipper Mill Road in Hampden.  Directions to the theater are available on the website.

Please note that the use of language in this play may be considered inappropriate for children under 16.

One of Baltimore’s most popular young theater groups, the Mobtown Players were founded in 1998, finding a permanent home in Hampden in 2003. The non-profit theater company is dedicated to making both classic work and contemporary plays accessible to a wide variety of audiences.

THE MOBTOWN PLAYERS KICK OFF 2011 WITH “SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER”
Classic comedy opens Friday, January 14 
 
Finding true love has never been easy.  It’s hard enough to meet a nice guy without the added complications of meddling parents, mistaken identity, and priceless family heirlooms.  A group of young lovers must overcome these challenges, and more, in the Mobtown Players’ production of She Stoops to Conquer, the hilarious period comedy by Oliver Goldsmith.  The production runs January 14 through February 5, with performances Friday and Saturdays at 8 pm.  There will be two matinees, on Sundays January 23 and 30 at 4 pm.
 
Kate’s father plans to introduce her to his good friend’s son Charles Marlow in hopes that they will want to marry. Kate is interested in Marlow, but there is a problem.  Among upper-class ladies, Marlow is a shy, bumbling fool.   Surround him with women of a lower class, however, and he exudes confidence and charm.  To win his heart, Kate takes matters into her own hands, posing as barmaid.   
 
Meanwhile, Marlow’s friend George Hastings is in love with Constance Neville.  But her aunt, Mrs. Hardcastle, wants her own son to marry Constance so that her inheritance will remain within the family.  Fearing that they will never be allowed to marry, Hastings and Constance hatch a plan to run off together. Tony is more than happy to help them finance their plan by stealing the inheritance from his mother.  Over the course of the evening pratical jokes are played, identities are mistaken and lovers consipire, spurring an absurd chain of events that will keep you laughing until the very end!
 
Goldsmith wrote She Stoops to Conquer in 1773 and it is one of the few 18th century plays that remains popular with modern American audiences.  It is performed regularly all over the country. Usually considered a ‘Laughing Comedy’ or ‘Comedy of Manners,’ the play derives its humor from the characters’ upper-class pretensions, which stand in contrast to their deceitful actions.
 
In Mobtown’s production, director Caitlin Bouxsein’s cast of thirteen actors includes several veterans and six who are making their Mobtown debut.  Bouxsein last directed Mobtown’s June 2010 production of Duranged Nights and previously directed Sylvia and Three Days of Rain at Mobtown.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for students and seniors. The Mobtown Theater is located in the Meadow Mill complex, 3600 Clipper Mill Road in Hampden. To purchase tickets or find directions to the Mobtown Theater, please visit www.mobtownplayers.com.
 
One of Baltimore’s most popular young theater groups, the Mobtown Players were founded in 1998, finding a permanent home in Hampden in 2003. The non-profit theater company is dedicated to making both classic work and contemporary plays accessible to a wide variety of audiences. 

By Jessica McHugh

If you would have told me that I would decide to write my first play on top of writing one novel and revising two others, I probably would’ve called you crazy. Then I would’ve remembered that I’m actually the crazy one, and adding yet another writing project to my list sounds exactly like something I would do. People who know me well are always saying I take on too much, but having “Fools call it Fate” chosen by the Mobtown Playwrights Group for a staged reading was one of those occurrences that made those people think “Hey, maybe she does know what she’s doing.” Then, of course, they rescind that thought as soon as I start groaning about how stressed I am. It’s a good stress though: one that fellow artists can certainly understand, especially when the hard work pays off. I never actually thought my play would be chosen though. I’m still processing the miraculous fact that I’ve had six novels published in two years. Sometimes I still can’t believe it, but stunned as I am, I’m loving every minute and grateful that I decided to give playwriting a shot.

A novelist and short story writer by design, I definitely had to make some changes to my repertoire when it came to writing my first play. The first thing I had to get used to was dropping my descriptions. Anyone who reads my books can immediately tell how much I love describing everything right down to the smallest detail. It was extremely hard to curb this inherent desire to describe. Even after several revisions, I still see the novelist in some of the stage directions, and I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. I didn’t want to completely obliterate what makes my writing “Jessica McHugh writing”. Heavy description is just one of my trademarks though, and while it had to be put on a leash during the writing of “Fools call it Fate”, my other trademark was allowed to run wild and free. Dialogue. Maybe it’s because I watched so many movies as a kid or maybe it’s because I speak aloud as I write, but creating dialogue just seems to come naturally. A few pages into writing the play, I thought to myself, “You know, this just might work.” Now I hear the actors actually reading my words and I have to say, it’s pretty damn amazing. Seeing those talented men and women personify characters that I essentially plucked out of thin air is a joy I never thought I would feel. I walk away from every rehearsal so euphoric because only in my wildest dreams did I imagine anyone ever bringing my words to life.

The question is: would I do it again?

The answer: Abso-friggin-lutely. Especially if it’s motivated by a Mobtown Players call for submissions.

Through it all: stressful multi-tasking, revisions, new scenes, seeing my characters portrayed as so extraordinarily twisted that it makes me wonder if the actors think I’m a super weirdo, this has been an experience I will never forget. Whether “Fools call it Fate” earns a full production or not, I’m proud to now call myself a playwright.

“FOOL CALL IT FATE: a story of sex, coincidence, and an electronic cigarette”
will have 4 staged readings at the Mobtown Theater on December 10, 11, 17, 18 at 8pm.

Jessica McHugh is an author of speculative fiction that spans the genre from dystopian and alternate history to epic fantasy. Along with short stories appearing in online and print magazines, her five published novels “Camelot Lost”, “A Touch of Scarlet”, “Song of Eidolons”, “From the Herald’s Wearied Eye”, and “The Sky: The World” are available across the web in print and ebook. “Maladrid”, the first book in her “Tales of Dominhydor” fantasy series was recently released and she is due to have four books published in 2011. Please visit www.JessicaMcHughBooks.com for more information.