Jonathan M Ewart and Old Courthouse Theatre

Announce

The Second Season of the

LIVING ROOM READING SERIES

DATE(s): September 12, November 14, January 23

*March and May shows will be announced soon, rights pending*

See below for specific show information

Note:  Each show deals with different types of Families.

TIME:  Beginning @ 4:00 pm

WHERE:  Black Box Theatre of OCT

49 Spring Street NW
Concord, NC  28025

COST: Free Admission.

September 12th: "Dividing the Estate" by Horton Foote

 Matriarch Stella Gordon is determined not to divide her 100-year-old Texas estate, despite her family's declining wealth and the looming financial crisis. But her three children have another plan. Old resentments and sibling rivalries surface as the members of this hilariously dysfunctional family go head to head to see who might claim the biggest piece of the pie in DIVIDING THE ESTATE.

"DIVIDING THE ESTATE goes for laughs and succeeds, and at the same time comments on more sweeping notions of avarice, entitlement and carpet-bagging karma." —NY Daily News. "Horton Foote's DIVIDING THE ESTATE—about a rapacious Southern family tangling over finances—contains echoes of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Little Foxes, but its elegiac tone and rich humor clearly reflect the spirit of its playwright." —NY Post. "DIVIDING THE ESTATE will draw you into its drawing room and the shadows beyond with the theatrical equivalent of a page-turner, capturing your undivided attention as you hang on its teasing turmoil in guiltlessly glad complicity." —Bloomberg.com.

For cast list and more information on Dividing the Estate

November 14th: "Over the River and Through the Woods"

by Joe DiPietro

Nick is a single, Italian-American guy from New Jersey. His parents retired and moved to Florida. That doesn't mean his family isn't still in Jersey. In fact, he sees both sets of his grandparents every Sunday for dinner. This is routine until he has to tell them that he's been offered a dream job. The job he's been waiting for—marketing executive—would take him away from his beloved, but annoying, grandparents. He tells them. The news doesn't sit so well. Thus begins a series of schemes to keep Nick around. How could he betray his family's love to move to Seattle, for a job, wonder his grandparents? Well, Frank, Aida, Nunzio and Emma do their level best, and that includes bringing to dinner the lovely—and single—Caitlin O'Hare as bait…we won't give the ending away here.

"A hilarious family comedy that is even funnier than his long-running musical revue I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. —BackStage. "Loaded with laughs every step of the way." —Star-Ledger.

January 23: The World premiere of "Mrs. Murphy's Porch"

by Wysteria Edwards

A memory play, Mrs. Murphy’s Porch is set in 1986 and the present.  Penny ( a girl in her late- twenties) recalls the year “her eyes were opened” by personal tragedy, and those who participated in her imaginary adventures.  The play begins with the words of Ronald Reagan as he speaks to the nation in the wake of the NASA Challenger Disaster.  Penny’s best-friend, Henry is devastated by the loss.  While the town discusses the tragedy with sadness, Penny’s mother and father consult the family doctor and neighborhood matriarch, Mrs. Murphy, about the impending loss overshadowing Penny.  Should they force her to stop pretending and face the truth?  Does imagination help a child come to terms with grief in their own way? Through imaginative play, Mrs. Murphy guides Penny to a place where she can finally face the tragedy behind the door

Mrs. Murphy's Porch coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Challenger Disaster.