Strand Project returns for second act in Struthers

Staff report

STRUTHERS

The Strand Project will return for a second year this weekend and next with a production that focuses on the American experience, featuring monologues from a range of viewpoints and characters.

The audience will hear from a cabbie, a biology teacher, a fry cook, a coroner, a troubled young man, a runaway teenage girl, an immigrant baker in New York, a group of backpackers, a woman fighting cancer, and many more.

All seats for the 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday performances are sold out, however, seats are available for the June 9 and 10 shows at Selah restaurant’s cabaret room, 130 S. Bridge St. Each show will be followed by a talk-back with writers, actors and the production team. Tickets are $17.50 and are available at brownpapertickets.com

The action occurs over a day in an urban park, where friends and strangers meet. Unlike other monologue productions, rather than speaking to the audience, the actors tell their stories to other actors onstage.

“What’s interesting and challenging for our actors is that they have to create these characters outside of the context of a full-length script and they also have to convey relationships with other actors,” said Kris Harrington, project coordinator. “This cast has been up to the challenge.”

The cast includes Miranda Canacci, Terri Davis-Liller, D’Ella Heschmeyer, Frank Martin, Mateo Martin, Medford Mashburn, Mitchell Meyers, Jaye Mills, Tom O’Donnell, Erica Perna, Sam Perry, Jeanine Rees, Carlos Rivera, Michael Robinson, Jackie Stevens, Terry Shears and Brenda Zyvith.

Audiences who saw last year’s production can expect a different setting, new themes, and a larger production team. “Last year’s experimental, ever-evolving process worked for us, so we decided to stick with the free-flowing nature of it,” said Harrington. “But, I realized I needed a co-coordinator.”

Joining the production team as co-coordinator is Bill Soldan, a recent graduate of the NEOMFA program in creative writing.

“We were able to compile a wonderful collection of pieces with a wide representation of unique voices, and our fantastic actors have really brought their A-games to the stage,” said Soldan. “It’s a night full of humor and strength and vulnerability — the things that make us human.”

Harrington is also directing the project, guided by theater veteran Mary Ruth Lynn who is the project’s co-director and Selah Dessert Theater’s artistic director.

Selected writers for the Strand Project include Ellyn Bache, Kelly Bancroft, Gayle Bell, Charles Belov, Jeannette Brown, Rob Carney, Philip Cioffari, Alex Dremann, Seth Freeman, Pamela Gay, Gary R. Hoffman, Jeannine Jones, David MacGregor, Wayne L. Miller, Cressida Peever, Cary Pepper, Erica Perna, Ron Pullins, Robin Rice, George Sapio, Terry Shears and Judy Wells.