Congratulations Lonetta Thompson!
The Jasper Project is delighted to formally announce that Lonetta Thompson is the winner of the 2023 Play Right Series competition for her play, Therapy.
Lonetta Thompson is a graduate of the University of South Carolina with a B. A. in English and a Minor in Theatre. As an actor, she has performed for years on stages in Columbia and surrounding cities, most recently touring with Spark, an Outreach initiative of the SC Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities in partnership with Workshop Theatre of South Carolina. She is a member of the NiA Company and Company Emeritus with Trustus Theatre. Prior to entering the Play Right Series, she had written a handful of short stories and one other script. By day, Lonetta is an eLearning Developer with a large insurance company. She has one daughter and one grandson.
Lonetta’s play, Therapy, will be the focus of a staged reading on Sunday, August 6, 2023.
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Now it’s your chance to join the Jasper Project’s Play Right Series as a Community Producer.
Are you the kind of person who always wants to know more about the art you experience?
· Why did the playwright write their characters the way they did?
· What was the director trying to accomplish by having an actor move across stage, turn their back to the audience, or break into dance?
· How did an actor make me feel the way they did simply by turning their head?
If you have a passion for knowing more, understanding process, inspiration, and impetus, and seeing how a virgin play goes from page to stage, you are a good candidate for becoming a Jasper Project Play Right Series Community Producer.
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What is a Community Producer?
Community Producers are important members of the Play Right Series Team who, in exchange for their investment of a modest amount of funding, ($250 each or $500 per couple) become engaged in the development of a virgin play from the first time the actors meet until the production of a staged reading of the play in front of an audience.
During July 2023, Community Producers will gather every Sunday to explore the process of a play moving from page to stage with presentations that include
Meet the Playwright: Lonetta Thompson
Meet the Director: Elena Martinez-Vidal
First Table Reading with your host, Jon Tuttle
Behind the scenes with the Cast of Therapy
Stage managing, props, costumes, lighting, & sound with your host, Jon Tuttle
And finally, a Staged Reading before a live audience with the Community Producers front and center as our esteemed Guests of Honor*
You’ll enjoy wine, cheese, socializing, and an assortment of other unique snacks at every event, as well as Jasper Project swag bags
* For the Staged Reading, Guests of Honor will be seated in the best seats in the house, acknowledged from the stage and in all programming, promotions, and press releases, as well as on the Jasper Project website and in the Fall 2023 issue of Jasper Magazine.
Ready to sign up as a Community Producer?
Watch this space for more information or drop a note to info@JasperColumbia.com
How does this work?
Every Sunday afternoon in July 2023 you are invited to join with the cast, crew, and fellow Community Producers of Therapy for an enlightening and entertaining session that pulls back the curtains of theatre development and illuminates how a stageplay goes from page to stage. Your first session will offer you a private viewing of the first step in play production, the Table Reading – the first time the cast of Therapy reads their parts together for their director, Elena Martinez-Vidal.
Subsequent sessions will focus on essential ingredients in the production of a successful staged reading, such as the stage manager’s job; props, lighting, blocking, and sound; unique insights from the director; how the actors prepare for their parts; playwright perceptions from this year and past projects; and an invitation to the dress rehearsal. In addition to your invitation to gather with the cast and crew every Sunday in July, each session will also feature exciting snacks and beverages. And many more surprises each week!
Finally, you’ll take your reserved, best-in-the-house seats to a ticketed staged reading of Lonetta Thompson’s Therapy on Sunday, August 6th.
But there’s more.
Your name will be included as a Community Producer on programs, posters, press releases, and other promotional materials as well as in the perfect bound book, Therapy by Lonetta Thompson, published by Muddy Ford Press and registered with the Library of Congress, and you will take home your own copies of Therapy as a souvenir of your experience.
What is expected of Community Producers?
We hope you can make it to every exciting Sunday afternoon meeting, but we understand if you have to miss some. Each session will last from 90 – 120 minutes.
The financial commitment for a Community Producer is a minimum of $250 per person, but institutional sponsorships are also available and appreciated. You can also sponsor a student for $250 if you are unable to participate yourself.
Our hope is that you will be so enlightened and inspired by this experience that you will become a diplomat of live theatre, fresh playwrights, and the Jasper Project and encourage your friends and colleagues to participate in live theatre themselves!
Play Right Series History
The Play Right Series is an endeavor to enlighten and empower audiences with information about the process involved in creating theatrical arts, at the same time that we engineer and increase opportunities for SC theatre artists to create and perform new works for theatre.
Our first project in the Play Right Series was in 2017 when Larry Hembree led project members to produce a staged reading of Sharks and Other Lovers by SC playwright Randall David Cook. Sharks went on to win a number of awards and has been produced off-Broadway.
Our second play, community produced in the summer of 2022, Moon Swallower, was written by first time playwright Colby Quick and directed by Chad Henderson. Moon Swallower was performed as a staged reading at the Columbia Music Festival Association in August 2022 and subsequently performed in its entirety by USC Aiken. 2022’s Community Producers included James Smith, Kirkland Smith, Paul Leo, Eric Tucker, Ed Madden, Bert Easter, Bill Schmidt, Wade Sellers, and Cindi Boiter.
SC Playwright Professor Jon Tuttle of Francis Marion University was the project manager in 2022 and returns as to the position in 2023.
