Pioneer Drama Service is pleased to announce the upcoming publication of A Midsummer Night's Western.  This creative adaptation, by young Colorado playwright August Mergelman had its first staged reading at The Playwrights Showcase of the Western Region in 2007. 

The play will have its world premiere this month at Red Rocks Community College, less than one year after its first staged reading at the Showcase.  With its adaptation of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream in a western setting, the play will be presented as part of RRCC's "Git Along, Shakespeare" festival.

Welcome aboard, August, and congratulations!

Rachel Lichtman and Katie Ross, theatre students at Folsom High School, produced not only a play but also a magnanimous act of charity when they staged The Boardinghouse for their senior project in January.  Using donated space at Folsom's Stage Nine Theatre and incorporating the talents of other cast members from the high school drama department, the show ran for three nights with near-capacity crowds.

The Boardinghouse, Vern Harden's mystery-comedy about a clean, cozy home with as zany a cast of boarders as you'll ever see.  They all get pulled into a wild and ridiculous hunt for buried pirate's treasure that may or may not exist.  Filled with hysterical characters and goofy shenanigans, the full length play always has audiences howling from beginning to end.

Vern Harden has written several plays for Pioneer Drama Service, ranging from light-hearted farces to serious, social awareness plays.  He has a varied background in the theatre, having served as an actor, singer, technician, designer, director and manager throughout his career. In addition, he has worked on radio and appeared in movies, and he is also a frequent humorous newspaper columnist.

Folsom Cordova Unified School District requires all students to complete a senior project prior to graduating.  It can be oriented toward service, career, self-development, or curriculum.

We congratulate Rachel and Katie on their success at what we think was an outstanding senior project!

Although most productions of Pioneer Drama's plays and musicals are done in the US and Canada, our shows have also been done in over sixty other countries around the world.  We'll occasionally feature one of these productions in this blog.

Many of these performances are done by international American, Canadian, and British schools, but some are done by community theatres, too.  In January 2006, the Jerusalem English Speaking Theatre put on their production of the musical, Tom Sawyer.  JEST was originally created for non-Hebrew speakers unable to understand Israeli theater, but it has grown to attract native Israelis who appreciate English theater, also.

We're sure that Samuel Clemens would certainly have appreciated seeing his all-American stories staged in Israel and around the globe!

At Pioneer Drama, we are always excited to publish new plays by our playwrights.  We love it also when we hear that they are getting works published in other genre.

Craig Sodaro, master of mystery and mirth, action and farce, has a new book out from Curious Volumes.  Mom, Murder, and Me is a new novel, set in 1956, about 10 year old Andy Cline, a clean-cut suburban boy who must solve a murder in order to save his mother from jail.  Congratulations, Craig!

Usually an expert at crafting fabulous fractured fairy tales, Charlie Lovett tells us that Pearlsong Press will shortly release his first novel, The Program.  Library Journal calls it "a lively first novel.  Highly recommended."  Kudos to you, too, Charlie!

We wish both of these authors the best of luck with their new books.