Three readings of plays on race by three Houston playwrights!
Hosted by Stages Repertory Theatre
Saturday, June 11
3:00 pm Complaint Box and/or Good Times, by Abby Koenig
When an unexpected guest visits their beach house, three estranged sisters – who have come together to clean it out – are forced to confront their sense of identity and their relationship to race.
7:30 pm All the Dying Voices, by Reginald Edmund
A black teenage boy is found hanging from a swing set and protesters are convinced that a white cop lynched him. A young black up-and-coming district attorney must resolve the case before a fast-approaching mayoral election.
Sunday, June 12
2:00 pm Rebel Yell, by Ted Swindley
Set against the backdrop of a Civil War Confederate veterans’ home in 1920, Rebel Yell tells a shocking story about racism in the Jim Crow South. Caught between his white supremacist grandfather and his liberal, anti-racist father, a young man is forced to choose between the two most important men in his life with devastating results.
Tickets may be purchased at Stage’s website:
http://stagestheatre.com/tickets/how-to
Or by calling 713-527-0123
There is a discount for Dramatist’s Guild members.
Abby Koenig
Abby Koenig received her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dramatic Writing from the Dramatic Writing Conservatory at the State University of New York at Purchase, her MA in Mass Communications from the University of Houston, and is currently working towards her PhD in Technical Communication and Rhetoric from Texas Tech University. Productions of short work produced by: Mildred’s Umbrella Big Head Productions, Six of One Productions, Pandora Theatre and BooTown (Houston, TX), Horse and Cart (Denver, CO), Baby in the Corner & Astoria Performing Arts Theater (New York, NY). She is a published author of creative non-fiction, in addition to having been a regular contributor to the Houston Press and Arts + Culture Magazine.
Horse Head Theatre Co. produced her first full-length play, Your Family Sucks, in December 2012 in Houston, TX. In December 2013, Koenig wrote and produced an original one-woman performance art and installation piece, The Jew Who Loves Christmas, at the Fresh Arts Gallery in Houston, TX. She has reprised this show in 2014 and 2015 for the Horse Head Theatre’s annual Holiday Huzzah.
Additionally, Horse Head Theatre produced her second full-length play, Spaghetti Code, in July 2014. The play was awarded Broadway World Houston’s Annual “Best New Play” 2014 and was a finalist for the Houston Press Theater Awards “Best Play.”
Reginald Edmund
About Ted Swindley
For over twenty-five years, Ted Swindley has directed and/or produced over 200 plays. He is nationally known for creating the hit musical ALWAYS… PATSY CLINE, which opened in New York in June, 1997, while continuing to play throughout the world. Some of his outstanding directorial credits include World Premieres, Classics and Musicals including CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, PACIFIC OVERTURES, FOLLIES, and CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, and rotating repertory projects such as Thornton Wilder’s OUR TOWN and THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH and DANGEROUS LIAISONS with THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST.
Mr. Swindley was named to Esquire magazine’s register of Americans for Outstanding Achievement in Arts and Letters and was featured in Southern Living magazine. He was also the recipient of the Los Angeles Dramalogue Award for Outstanding Direction and nominated for the prestigious Los Angeles Critics Award for his work at the Pasadena Playhouse.
He has also guest directed for the Texas Shakespeare Festival, Duke University, San Diego Repertory, Red Barn Theatre, Flat Rock Playhouse, Denver Theatre Center, Virginia Stage, Barter Theatre, Mill Mountain Theatre, Ryman Auditorium, Actor’s Studio, York Theatre, and Pasadena Playhouse, to name a few.
As Playwright and Director, Mr. Swindley created the hit musical ALWAYS…PATSY CLINE, which has played all over the world. Mr. Swindley has served as dramaturg on numerous new plays which had their premiere at Stages Repertory Theatre in Houston. Internationally, he has directed touring productions in the UK and Australia.
Mr. Swindley is the Founding Artistic Director of Stages Repertory Theatre, the second largest theatre in Houston, Texas. There he implemented such diverse programming as the Texas Playwrights’ Festival, for which he won national recognition in 1986 from the Wall Street Journal and Backstage magazine. His latest hit musical, THE HONKY TONK ANGELS and the sequel HONKY TONK ANGELS HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR are playing in theatres throughout the United States. Other shows by Mr. Swindley which had world premieres are STEP INTO MY PARLOR, BYE, BYE LOVE: THE EVERLY BROTHERS MUSICAL, SUMMER OF ’66 and SWINGSTEP, which was nominated for the Dora Award (the Canadian equivalent of the Tony in America) for best musical.
He recently premiered a new musical comedy, BACHELOR PAD, based on the short story “Thank You Anna,” by William Safire and featuring lounge music classics from the 50’s and 60’s. He has also written a play entitled STORIES MY GRANDMOTHER TOLD ME, a southern adaptation of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, and completed THE HONKY TONK ANGELS trilogy with BUBBA’S REVENGE and an adaptation of the best selling book, A SOUTHERN BELLE PRIMER (OR WHY PRINCESS MARGARET COULD NEVER BE IN KAPPA KAPPA GAMMA). He has also written a series of children’s stories for the Christmas season.
He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Houston, a Master of Arts from Baylor University and a Bachelor of Arts from Furman University. He has studied at the Lincoln Center Institute and the Institute of European Studies in Vienna, Austria.
Mr. Swindley is President/Executive Director of Ted Swindley Productions and APC, Inc., theatrical licensing companies. He is an active member of the Dramatists Guild and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. Mr. Swindley is available as artistic consultant, guest director or playwright in residence. As dramaturg and writer, he also accepts commissioned works and consults on the development of new shows.