Finding an Audience

Marv Siegel’s play, ‘Generations Apart,’ make its stage debut as part of the New Playwrights Series at the Villagers Theatre in Somerset.

By: Hank Kalet

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TimeOFF/Frank Wojciechowski
From left: Lona Alpert, Jeff Dworkin and Ray Leiter at the Villagers Theatre in Somerset.


   When it comes to the theater, the audience is key.
   That’s why playwright Marv Siegel is looking forward to seeing his play, Generations Apart, make its stage debut as part of the New Playwrights Series at the Villagers Theatre in Somerset Feb. 3.
   Mr. Siegel, who lives in Freehold and has written a number of plays, says staged readings like the ones taking place during the four-week series should help bring his play to life.
   "You get to hear it," he says. "It’s a lot different than seeing it on paper. The things you think are funny may not work in reality and other things you’ve not focused on, they may strike a chord with the audience and you decide to develop those."
   Mr. Siegel’s play will kick things off and will be followed by Lynee Judd’s Theory of Relativity Feb. 10, The Heirs by Norma Mortimer Feb. 17 and an evening of three one-act plays Feb. 24.
   Catherine Rowe Pherson, who coordinates and produces the 17-year-old series for the Villagers, says New Playwrights allows the theater to "foster the creation of new works for the stage."
   "We have a community theater because we are all fans of theater — all aspects of the theater," she says.
   About 100 scripts were submitted from New Jersey and beyond for this year’s series. The theater solicits submissions via newspaper, word of mouth, the Internet, the Villagers Web site and through the Playwrights Notice Board at stageplays.com. The judges then attempt to choose a representative mix of styles and playwrights to present during the series.

"Villagers

TimeOFF/Frank Wojciechowski

   The company performs what is called a staged reading, which involves a full cast reading from the script, minimal costuming and staging. After the reading, the audience is invited to ask questions of the playwright.
   "We give them a platform where they can try out the material," she said. "We give them a stage, actors, directors, we bring in an audience. The playwright then sees what’s working and what needs work."
   That’s what makes the staged readings so useful, says M. Lennon Perricone of North Brunswick, who participated in the series in 2001.
   "I found my play was way over-written," he says. "I cut 5,000 words from it, cut 35 pages from a play. Then the play was much tighter. And it gave me the confidence to start to market it."
   Peter G. Brav of Princeton, whose one-act play African Violet will be one of three one-acts featured Feb. 24, is looking for that kind of feedback.
   "I look forward to that process, to seeing your work done," he says. "I do my own staged readings virtually every hour — my wife is patient and a good reader. But that process is being extended now that I’m putting it out there."
   The 47-year-old is just starting out as a playwright after writing fiction for most of his life. He has written several novels, but already is enjoying the collaborative nature of the theater.
   "The craft, the collaboration, the staging is all new to me," Mr. Brav says. "It is wonderful to see how things get done."
   He says he has already learned a lot about his play from the open auditions held Jan. 18, and a lot about what it takes to get a play off the ground.
   "Already, I’ve had a tremendous education in terms of what works and what doesn’t in terms of the staging," Mr. Brav says. "I took a lot away and I expect to take more away on Feb. 24."

The performances are:


   Feb. 3 — Generations Apart by Marv Siegel, a comedy involving an elderly Jewish couple, their divorced daughter, an old girlfriend of the husband and her divorced son. Directed by Ray Leiter.

   Feb. 10 — Theory of Relativity by Lynne Judd, a drama about an alcoholic English professor with a dark family secret. Directed by Bill Seesselberg.

   Feb. 17 — The Heirs by Norma Mortimer, a play about an immature man who learns responsibility after the death of his wealthy aunt. Directed by Annette Fielder.

   Feb. 24 — An evening of one-act plays: Modern Man in Search of a Really Good Doughnut by Donald Earle Howes, directed by Marion Sanders; Linger by Voltaire Balderrama; African Violet by Peter G. Brav, directed by Catherine Rowe Pherson.

   Mr. Siegel agrees.
   "Whenever I have a staged reading I like to sit in back and see the audience’s reaction," he says. "Sometimes, you think the audience will get something and they’re not. Sometimes, you think there’s nothing to get — you may get a laugh when you don’t expect it and maybe you want to bolster it."
   Ultimately, he says, the audience is the most important aspect of the staged readings.
   "Don’t discount the audience," he said. "Another play in which I participated in three staged readings — the feedback helped me focus it."
   A new theater company will produce that play, The Autobiography of God as Told To Mel Schneider, off-Broadway in April.
   He says the Villagers should be applauded for giving new playwrights a place where they can present their work and make it better.
   "The most important thing is that what the Villagers are doing is a wonderful thing for playwrights," Mr. Siegel says. "A lot of community theaters are careful to have productions of old-time, well-known musicals and other well-known productions. To give a forum to playwrights that don’t have the kind of bonafides that some of the more famous playwrights do is wonderful. I’d be remiss not to thank them for that."
The New Playwrights Series takes place at the Zaidi Black Box Theater, the Villagers Theatre, Franklin Township Municipal Complex, 475 DeMott Lane, Somerset, Feb. 3-24. Performances: Mon. 8 p.m. Free admission. For information, call (732) 873-2710. On the Web: www.villagerstheatre.com