The Newtowne Players (NTP) competed for the second time in the Maryland Community Theatre Festival Association’s 22nd Annual Short Play Competition on Saturday, January 13, 2007. The competition took place at the Cultural Arts Center of Frederick County. Southern Maryland was well represented at this statewide competition with three local theatres participating.

In 2006 NTP joined the competition for the first time. The original cast of Cheaters took a shortened version of the show to the competition.  “We didn’t earn any awards,” said Morriah Cell, one of the cast members, “but we gained some great experience, got some much needed exposure and good advice.”

 

 
Photo by Brian Jaffe
(The County Times)

This year, Cell attended again, this time as director of Time Flies a wacky comedy written by David Ives. The show is the story of two mayflies – ‘May’ played by Sarah Raley-Dale and ‘Horace’ played by P. J. Baker. Their lifespan is a mere 24-hours a fact that they realize while on a date. Greg Rumpf dusted off his British accent to impersonate ‘David Attenborough’ – the third and final cast member.  “My vision for the set design was for the scene to have a cartoonish feel,” said Cell, “The use of bright colors and larger than life props brings the audience into the mayfly world.”

The performance was well received by the adjudicators and the results of the competition were announced on Sunday, January 14, 2007. The Newtowne Players, in their second year of competition in the festival came away with three awards including Outstanding Production First Runner Up, Outstanding Performance for actress Sarah Raley-Dale, and an Adjudicators Award for Outstanding Costume Design went to Annie Whitmore. “It was great to be recognized for our costuming. Annie does costume design for many of our main stage shows and she has put in many hours over the last year,” said Cell.

“Participating in the One Act Festival is always a learning experience for us. The adjudicators provide insight and suggestions to improve our performances,” said Cell. Winning Maryland productions will advance to the Eastern States Theatre Association’s (ESTA) ESTAFest 2007 on April 13-15, 2007 at the Ephrata Performing Arts Center in Ephrata, PA.  More information about ESTAFest can be found at http://www.estafest.org. ESTA is in Region II of the American Association of Community Theatre (http://www.aact.org).

The cast and crew of Time Flies is delighted with their successes. An encore performance takes place February 3, 2007, in La Plata at Port Tobacco Theatre with Port Tobacco Players and Hard Bargain Players performing in an “Evening of One Acts”. Three one act plays will be performed starting at 7:30pm. Admission for this event is $10. Tickets can be reserved by contacting Port Tobacco Players at 301-932-6819.

Time Flies will also be performed again in St. Mary’s County at Three Notch Theatre on February 16 – 18, 2007. Check The Newtowne Players website (http://www.newtowneplayers.org)