Sauk Announces Scripts, Auditions For Annual PLAYS-IN-DEVELOPMENT

The Sauk, Hillsdale County's community theatre, is proud to announce plans for their eighth annual "Plays-in-Development."

Started in 2015, "Plays-in-Development" is a unique project to help playwrights develop their scripts. Actors and directors work one on one with playwrights to learn what works and what does not work about their plays. During rehearsals, the playwrights make changes to their scripts. The project ends with free staged readings for the public. After the readings, the audience gets an opportunity to respond to what they have heard. Therefore, the playwrights end the process with input from directors, actors and audience.

"As this project has grown, we are starting to get submissions from all over the world," said Sauk Executive Director Trinity Bird, who coordinates the program. "Although we continue to make local playwrights a priority, we have received scripts from almost all 50 states and eight foreign countries. Our play selection committee reviewed all of these submissions and ultimately selected the three scripts we will be working on this year."

The 2022 Plays-in-Development will include staged readings of "Living" by G.M. (Bud) Thompson of Grand Rapids, MI and "The Challenge" by Meaghan Bryant of North Adams, MI at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, July 1. On Saturday, July 2, a staged reading of "A Shore of Abundance" by Pearl Moore of Cana, VA will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free. The staged readings will be held at the Sauk Theatre, 240 E. Chicago St., Jonesville. Visit www.thesauk.org for more information.

Auditions for the readings will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 4 at the theatre. The production is looking to cast four adult men, seven adult women, three teen boys and four teen girls. No experience is necessary. No memorization is required. Actors will be reading from scripts during the performances. This is a very short rehearsal period (five to seven rehearsals total). Rehearsals will begin immediately.

"Plays-in-Development" is sponsored by Gossage Eye Institute and Optical, Drews Place Assisted Living Communities, Country Carpets and Don Toffollo of Edward Jones. The 2022 season is sponsored by Joyous Journey Photography. The 2022 Media Sponsor is WCSR Radio Hillsdale and The Dale 99.5.

About the Plays

• "Living" - a??A mother and son struggle to adapt to the new life they unexpectedly find themselves in. Try as they might to make the best of it, painful memories and frustration complicate their efforts to get on with living. MJ Dulmage will direct.
• "The Challenge" - a?? All families face challenges. But the Matthews family is facing their biggest challenge yet. Will they rise to the occasion and succeed? Will they fail? Will they kill each other before they reach the finish line? Mom, Amy, is eager to find out. Mari Nuñez will direct.
• "A Shore of Abundance" - a??a??"A Shore of Abundance" is about a young seventeen-year-old girl named Eleanor who creates a world in which she is the captain of her own pirate ship in order to escape from her life, in which she has no control or power. In the real world, she wants to search for her biological father after finding out that the father who raised Eleanor her whole life isn't her real father. On top of this, she is pressured to start figuring out what she should do for her future. With it all being too much for her mind she escapes into her pirate world where she goes on a journey to find her pirate father who has been taken by a sea witch. It is up to Eleanor to find items of three in order to trade the items for her pirate father's safe return. This is a play with an epic hero story with sword fights, a sea shanty, and a mermaid rap battle that will have audiences hoping that the adventure never ends. Sarah Gray directs.