The first reading of my new play, The Gravediggers Union, will be at Strawdog Theatre on Saturday, June 29th at 7:30pm. There is no cost for this reading.
Synopsis: A group of people work at a cemetery in the fictional Ashworth, New Hampshire... some wishing they were elsewhere, others perfectly happy to be miserable where they are. Ronnie used to be married to Bobby, who is unhappily married to Ricky. Mike plays drums in a wedding band on the weekend and can't stop talking about how incredible the song "Pour Some Sugar on Me" is. Johnny shows up at the cemetery surreptitiously recording a podcast called "AshTown." They all work together digging holes and passing the time. When the WalMart of cemeteries opens across the street everybody begins to worry about losing their jobs. So they plan to put on a play to raise money to buy the cemetery themselves. The only problem is nobody goes to plays anymore...
The Gravediggers Union was written as part of Ritual Writing Group’s February new play challenge, where playwrights set out to write a new play from soup-to-nuts in the month of February. RWG is a group of playwrights, named for the coffee shop where they first met to talk about their writing lives. Founded in January 2018 by Cara Beth Heath and Brian James Polak, Ritual has grown into a support group of powerhouse playwrights.