The Colony Theatre in Burbank has just wrapped up their very first Scripts & Sips: A Playreading Series event on Sunday, November 17th. The casual, fun, immersive evening was a tremendous success for the theatre and gave the audience a taste of the creative process that brings new work to life with a staged reading presentation.
After receiving and reading over 325 submissions from all over the world, the Colony Theatre chose Fetch, which was submitted by local Burbank award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and director, Alex Goldberg.
Fetch is a laugh-out-loud comedy about first year college student, Ariel, who returns to her barely functioning family for Thanksgiving, where they all learn that her new boyfriend may be the reincarnation of her Golden Globe-winning, screenwriter, father’s beloved dog …or…he may be hustling the family.
A few familiar Colony Theatre faces were included in the cast of Fetch such as Blake Jenner (The Civility of Albert Cashier) and Jordan Quisno (Calvin Berger), also joined by an all-star cast of Pat Towne, Leslie Stevens, Gabbie Adner, Adwin Brown, and Kate Woerner. Directing Fetch was award-winning casting director, producer, director, and teacher, Michael Donovan who has cast over 1,000 theatre productions, including numerous shows at the Colony.
Staged readings such as this, allow writers and creatives to develop, then see and hear the text read aloud on stage as they watch it come to life with the actors. Audience reactions also help the writer learn what works and doesn’t work, but by the sound of the laughter, Goldberg’s Fetch was extremely well received.
“I am thrilled we have launched this special Scripts & Sips program here at The Colony, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the success of this initial presentation.” said Colony Theatre Producing Artistic Director, Heather Provost. “The turnout was fantastic, the play read wonderfully, and the post-show panel discussion was incredibly engaging. If there was ever any question in our minds if we should move forward and continue this program, the answer came on Sunday with a resounding ‘yes!'”
As in the program’s name, the Colony Theatre sold custom cocktails (and mocktails) to complement the presented script of the evening. The “Bo,” an autumn apple cider bourbon cocktail, and “The Sequel,” a pumpkin pie martini were sold at the TCT bar during the event, and paired with complimentary light bites before the show and during intermission. The theming details throughout were evident and there were even paw-shaped lollipops given out.
A fun story this reporter learned, was that on the script submission form, the Colony Theatre included a personality question at the end that asked what the writer’s favorite dessert was and why. Goldberg had answered the prompt, “My father’s chocolate raspberry cake. Fortunately, my father is still around and at 83, still makes a damn good cake. If you are choosing between two plays and a chocolate raspberry cake will make the difference, then my father will gladly make you one.” The night of the event Goldberg’s father was in attendance and actually brought the homemade chocolate raspberry cake to surprise the Colony staff.
Scripts & Sips is supported in part by a Community Arts Grant from the City of Burbank, and many Burbank Arts Commissioners were in attendance for the inaugural event.
Follow the Colony Theatre on Instagram or visit their website www.colonytheatre.org to stay up to date on more Scripts & Sips events coming up in the future.
