December 2014
THE BEST PLACE WE'VE EVER LIVED, a Fantasy Play in Two Acts and Four Realms by William Fowkes, was named a FINALIST by Cimientos, IATA Theater's play development program. This play was presented in a workshop production in New York City by Love Creek Productions, January 2013, and in a reading in Bangor, ME at Penobscot Theatre Company's 3rd Annual New Play Festival Festival: Northern Writes, June 2009.
SYNOPSIS: In this fantasy play, the world of classic TV sitcoms (like Leave It to Beaver and The Brady Bunch) meets Disney's Carousel of Progress when one family and its time-traveling clan migrate and conquer their way through history trying to assimilate changing family and marital relationships.
December 2014
THE HUDSON FAMILY GUIDE TO TABLE MANNERS, a full-length play in one act, was designated a SEMI-FINALIST (under the title A FIELD GUIDE TO TABLE MANNERS) by the Landing Theatre Company (Houston, TX) for their 2015 New American Voices Play Reading Series.
SYNOPSIS: THE HUDSON FAMILY GUIDE TO TABLE MANNERS follows the exploits of Michael Hudson, owner of the Hudson Certified Vacuum Cleaner and Floor Care Company, and his brothers. In restaurants and hotel lobbies around the world—from Chicago to London, Tribeca, Buenos Aires, and beyond—we witness the frustrations and follies of the Hudson offspring, significant others, and friends. By the end we learn that people everywhere ultimately want the same things—love and sex, respect and understanding—and discover the identity of the heir to the company.
October 2014
Spokane Public Radio (KPBX-FM 91.1)
broadcast TABLE MANNERS IN MEXICO CITY, a One-Act Play by William Fowkes, at 6:30PM PDT (9:30PM Eastern time), Monday, October 20, 2014.
This play was first produced at the 15-Minute Play
Festival, American Globe Theatre, New York City, April 2012, with a cast that included Roxann Kraemer, Tony Neil, Jessica Vera, and Elly Berke.(The radio broadcast has a different cast.) This
play is also a scene in the full-length play, A FIELD GUIDE TO TABLE MANNERS (2013 Reva Shiner Comedy Award Finalist and 2012 W.Keith Hedrick Playwriting Contest Finalist).
SYNOPSIS: A tourist in Mexico City is annoyed that his wife has invited a third person to join them at dinner until the attractive young woman shows up.
October 2014
On October 9, in an after-hours event at the Collective NY's 2nd Annual Ten-Minute Play Festival, the COLLECTIVE NY recreated last year's performance of my play THE BRAZILIAN DILEMMA in a reading with the original cast (Robert Z. Grant and Karen Chamberlain) along with 2 other plays from last year's festival and anthology. (Amy Schumer and her sister Kimberly performed MAY FIRST TWENTY ELEVEN by CRAIG MCNULTY, and Lisa Kicielinski and Rock Kohli recreated their roles in BURNT TOAST by TIMOTHY BRADY.)
THE BRAZILIAN DILEMMA is available in THE COLLECTIVE: 10 PLAY ANTHOLOGY, Volume 1.
September 2014
TABLE MANNERS IN SANTA MONICA was named semi-finalist in Little Fish Theatre’s (San Pedro, CA) Pick of the Vine 2015. Final plays will be announced in November. TABLE MANNERS IN SANTA MONICA is an excerpt from my full-length play, A FIELD GUIDE TO TABLE MANNERS. It was last produced in March 2011 at Artistic New Directions’ Eclectic Evening of Shorts in New York. It was published in CLOCKHOUSE REVIEW, the literary journal of Goddard College, in October 2013.
SYNOPSIS: A man and a woman who meet through a dating website struggle through their first date.
September 2014
TABLE MANNERS IN MEXICO CITY, a One-Act Play by William Fowkes, will be taped and broadcast on Spokane’s public radio station by SPOKANE RADIO THEATRE. Date and details to be announced. (Spokane Radio Theatre had previously recorded the play in April, but then temporarily went out of business.) This play was first produced at the 15-Minute Play Festival, American Globe Theatre, New York City, April 2012 and is a section of my full-length play, A FIELD GUIDE TO TABLE MANNERS.
SYNOPSIS: A tourist in Mexico City is annoyed that his wife has invited a third person to join them at dinner until the attractive young woman shows up.
August 2014
TABLE MANNERS IN LONDON, a 10-Minute Play, was named a Top 40 Finalist out of nearly 1000 submissions for the 2014 Collective: NY 10-Minute Play Festival. Although this play didn't make it into the final festival, another play, THE BRAZILIAN DILEMMA, was in last year's festival and was also published by the Collective: NY. TABLE MANNERS IN LONDON is included as one of the scenes in the full-length play, A FIELD GUIDE TO TABLE MANNERS.
SYNOPSIS: Two men who share a past run into each other in the bar of a London hotel.
July 2014
SUNSHINE QUEST, a Play in Two Acts by William Fowkes, had its world premiere for 3 performances in July 2014 at the Fresh Fruit Festival at the Wild Project in New York City. The cast included Tony Neil*, James Meneses, Steve Shoup*, Camille Mazurek*, and George Boras. It was directed by William Fowkes, choreographed by Heidi Miller, assistant directed by Wendy Peace, and stage managed by Sondra Hunt.
*Appearing by courtesy of Actors Equity Association
April 2014
SUNSHINE QUEST, a Play in Two Acts by William Fowkes, will be presented at the Fresh Fruit Festival at the Wild Project in New York City this July. Casting and other details to come.Excerpts from this play were presented in March 2013 at the Pulse Ensemble Theatre Company Playwrights' Lab's Festival at The Playroom in New York City.
SYNOPSIS: It’s Fort Lauderdale, Florida in the year of our Lord 1999. Retired gay men flock to the Sunshine QUEST Club for dancing, companionship, flirtation, and nonstop fun. Unfortunately not everyone considers the club heaven on earth.
March 2014
William Fowkes was named Kanjy Writer of the Week (March 30-April 5). Kanjy is a community site for playwrights. The Kanjy Newsletter included an interview and author profile.
February 2014
COUPLE OF THE CENTURY, a Romantic Comedy by William Fowkes, has been licensed and published by Yes Plays.
SYNOPSIS: Nick Turner & Diane London make an unlikely couple. He’s a college dropout from Flatbush, Brooklyn with a successful contracting business and an overactive libido. She’s a Yale-educated psychotherapist with a keen sense of what’s proper. Can this marriage work?
FOR MORE INFORMATION & TO PURCHASE A COPY
TABLE MANNERS IN MEXICO CITY Broadcast Announced
February 2014
It was announced that Spokane Radio Theatre in Spokane, WA will present a radio broadcast of TABLE MANNERS IN MEXICO CITY, a short play by William Fowkes, on April 27, 2014. This play was first produced at the 15-Minute Play Festival, American Globe Theatre, New York City, April 2012.
SYNOPSIS: Tourist Phil Sampson is annoyed that his wife has invited a third person to join them at dinner one night in Mexico City until the attractive young woman shows up.
UPDATE: Sadly, Spokane Radio Theatre announced in March 2014 that it is going out of business.
NEWER UPDATE: Spokane Radio Theatre will return on Spokane's National Public Radio station and will broadcast this play at a date to be announced.
January 2014
MUSEUM PIECE #2, a 10-minute play by William Fowkes, was published in THE BEST TEN-MINUTE PLAYS 2013, an annual anthology published by Smith and Kraus Publishers in New York.
SYNOPSIS: Four tourists visiting the Prado Museum in madrid confront Velazquez's masterpiece, Las Meninas.