On the night of January 16, The Newtowne Players at Three Notch Theatre in Lexington Park premiered the one-act play, Field Guide to the North American Osprey by local playwright Trish Cole. The evening began with hors d’oeuvres and cocktails at 7 pm. followed by the curtain at 8 p.m.

The play was an entry in the 2013 Maryland Community Theatre Festival held on Saturday, January 19 at Chesapeake College on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

This festival offers one-act plays from small community theatres across the state recognition on the state, regional, and national levels.

Cole is known for her theatrical works which explore social norms, gender, and identity. She and her plays have won previous awards in the Maryland One-Act Festival (her Butterfly was a winner in the best original play category) and she has the distinction of having had her plays produced not only throughout Maryland but in New York City, Chicago, Seattle, and San Francisco, as well.

This particular play follows a heartbroken couple as they struggle with their own grief while anticipating the return of an osprey pair to Southern Maryland, at the end of the birds’ 3,000 mile migration.

The couple is also experiencing an emotional migration and the single set-piece, a double bed, is used creatively to indicate the journey.

Director Valarie Green, who is also the theatre’s Artistic Director, skillfully guided her two-person cast through the 20-minute storyline, keeping up a smooth, brisk pace with the staging. And adding to the success of this one-act drama is the accomplished husband-and-wife acting team of Missy and Michael Bell. (This play marks Michael’s first trip to the Maryland One-Act Festival; this is Missy’s second time. She appeared as Emily/David in Cole’s Butterfly). Together, through expert timing, both verbally and non-verbally, they effectively and poignantly portrayed the struggling couple. Another unique facet of this play is Cole’s gift of balancing the dialogue in scenes of almost unbearable grief with flashes of humor.

The results of the festival competition are as follows:

Silver Spring Stage’s Spoken For by S.L. Daniels and the Montgomery Playhouse’s Saves the Day by Brian Doyle both received top honors in the Outstanding Production category; these two plays will advance to the Regional Competition to be held in Rome, New York in April.

First Runner-Up as the Outstanding Production Alternate is the College of Southern Maryland&rsq