The Players Centre for Performing Arts names New Play Festival winner

The Players Centre for Performing Arts is committed to fostering creativity through theater, and one of the best ways to do that is by offering local playwrights a platform.

Every year, The Players Centre asks regional writers to submit never-before-performed plays to its New Play Festival. Five works are chosen to be performed for the public in readers-style theater (under the leadership of a local director), and a talk-back follows every show to offer constructive criticism. 

Audiences at these readings vote for their favorite new play, and in an Aug. 19 release, the theater announced that Ron Pantello is the 2019 winner for his play “Damaged Goods.”

“This year’s play-reading festival was especially productive,” Managing Artistic Director Jeffery Kin said in the release. “Five well-written and well-thought-out plays hitting some pretty substantial themes. [Pantello's] play rose to the top with its lighthearted dialogue yet powerful message. We look forward to the future of this play and of all the plays we gave a reading experience.”  

Pantello will take the next year to work with the community theater’s team, primarily Director Carole Kleinberg, to develop the script and make as many revisions as needed. When it’s finished next summer, it will be performed Aug. 4-9, 2020, (for $15 a ticket) with a full set and costumes. 

“Damaged Goods” is about Loretta, a fading star who once shined bright as a child actress. She decides to recreate herself — and hopefully regain fame — via her gifted daughter, which is exactly what Loretta’s mother did to her.