Tag Archives: Players By The Sea

New Voices Program at PBTS Puts Important, Relevant Stories Into The World Players by the Sea is looking for new voices to participate in a year-long program designed to bring original works to the stage. Established in 2016, the was created as a vehicle to nurture and develop scripts by local playwrights. Now that theatres have gone dark during the pandemic, Players revived the program after a yearlong hiatus into a virtual platform “New Voices: Voices Unheard.” “I created the New Voices program as a way for to help nurture and elevate the voices of local playwrights. At that time, …

Reviewed by Dick Kerekes and originally published in EU JACKSONVILLE in 2002 As theatres are closed throughout the world because of the current pandemic crisis, the Dual Critics along with many others, are revisiting and republishing some of their previous work. The musical “Quilters,” was staged at Players By the Sea in 2002 and took home the trophy for best play of the year. Molly Newman and Barbara Damashek used the book “Quilters: Women and Domestic Art” (first published in 1977), as the basis for the production, which dramatized the history of the American frontier in a most unique way. …

Around 700,000 British expats live in the U.S., and a huge chunk of that population has chosen to reside in Florida. By the estimates of the British consulate in Orlando, approximately 400,000 British expats are in the state. But what makes Florida so attractive to the Brits? Brit-Friendly Culture A Florida retirement has become somewhat of a tradition in the UK. Much of this is because local Floridian culture offers a lot to retiring Brits. Home to the La Martina Miami Beach Polo World Cup, Miami’s version of soccer replaces the traditional green field with sand. For soccer fans, the new …

A DUAL CRITICS REVIEW BY DICK KEREKES & LEISLA SANSOM On Saturday February 23, 2020, the Bard’s Romeo and Juliet was staged at Jacksonville Beach’s Players by the Sea Theatre, and played to an appreciative almost full house. The play, first mounted in the late 1500’s, is one of Shakespeare’s most well-known and most- produced plays. The production at Players included a twist: an all-female cast.  So how did they get to Players, and why an all-female cast? Tyler Lewis’s Self-Produced Theatre initially planned to stage the play in a venue in Springfield, but regrettably lost its space. Players by …

A DUAL CRITICS REVIEW by Dick Kerekes & Leisla Sansom “Forum” is based on the comedies of long-ago Greek playwright Plautus (251-183 BC), with a modern-day book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. An interesting little-known fact about the show occurred during pre-Broadway tryouts when it wasn’t doing well. Jerome Robbins was consulted; he advised presenting the show as a wild, ribald comedy, and got the talented Sondheim to write “Comedy Tonight” for the opening number. That did it: after opening on Broadway in 1962, it remained for almost 1,000 performances, garnered six …

A DUAL CRITICS REVIEW Jacksonville Beaches is always coming up with new ideas. Last year, they created a “Second Season” to expand their offerings. The plays, most with limited sets and costuming, are staged in the Studio Theatre, which has about eighty seats. The first play of this venture was “Memories of Ruby Mae” in September, 2019. Players did not sell tickets for the play but did accept donations. This year they staged “The Immigrant,” during January 9 – 11. “The Immigrant” was written in 1985 by multi-talented Mark Harelik, an American television, film, and stage actor, and playwright. The play …