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From Issue #Xx, Seasonl
200X
Readers
Theatre on Television
Amateurs produce plays for broadcast
By Sylvie Belmond
Reprinted with permission from The Acorn, Agoura Hills, CA
http://www.theacorn.com/
Ever wanted to work a television camera, sharpen your
acting skills or write an original play and see it come to life? This
group is for you.
Readers Theater Television is in its third season producing
original plays and helping writers, actors and people who like to work
behind the scenes to gain handson experience. There's always room for
talented people, said Regina Mocey, who founded the group with Oak Park
resident Tim Gallagher.
The creative volunteers produce taped readings of new
screenplays, teleplays and stage plays for public access TV.
The newest teleplay, "Pleasure and Grief,"
written by British playwright Colin Pink, aired on Adelphia's Channel
25.
This reading features Helene Cohen of Camarillo, Terry
Fishman of Thousand Oaks, Tim Gallagher of Oak Park, Peter Hayes of
Agoura Hills, Francine Markow of Westlake Village and Melanie Maynard
of Thousand Oaks.
"Readers Theater performs a valuable service in
getting new works produced," said Cohen, an actress and playwright
whose script "50/50" was recently produced by the group.
"They're willing to try out new work and that helps
the writers who can look at their work with a critical eye and evaluate
it in a way that's different from just reading it in a bedroom,"
she said.
Cohen also said she connected with Mocey as a person
and as an artist, and was confident the Readers Theater group would
represent her work well.
Although the Readers Theater format isn't new in theater,
it's not usually done for television. The simple productions leave room
for the viewer's imagination to take flight as the actors read a script
and bring a character to life using only their voices and facial expressions.
"Actors can be involved in a variety of projects
without extended commitments," Mocey said.
The projects also aim to involve people who want to
learn about camera work and editing, but participants must take a free
workshop before they can handle the equipment at Adelphia studios, where
the Readers Theater group produces its shows.
Through Readers Theater, writers also have a chance
to hear their works performed while developing them for the big or small
screen or full stage productions.
"Because we wanted to do something that was affordable,
we latched on the idea of original work, enabling playwrights to get
their work exposed," Mocey said.
Readers Theater Television welcomes submissions of new
work to produce. Volunteer actors and videographers are also invited
to join in.
For more information, call Gallagher at (818) 879-2096
or Mocey at (818) 707-6255, or visit http://www.gallaware.com/ReadersTheater/
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