Whew!!! What a whirlwind of a production! We only have one - JUST ONE -  performance left of Playroom: Bathroom, and boy has this run been spectacular.

Tonight we had our largest crowd yet: 39 awesome patrons, and was it warm in there or what?! The crowds have also been very consistant, which tells us the word on the street is positive and that our advertising has been working.

And speaking of advertising… Did anyone stop by Circles on the Square this week?!?!!

Gaslight Theatre sure did! How incredible is this – upon inquiring to Circles about featuring the Rich’s Well Made sandwich (said sammie that appears in Matthew S. Hinton’s piece of the same title), we were greeted with not one, not two, not even three…

BUT TWELVE TOTAL SANDWICH SPECIALS.

Now, this was beyond cool and I’ve got to say…. these sandwiches were delightful. Yesterday’s special titled “Circles Customer Writes Play” was quite possibly the best sandwich I’ve ever had in my entire life. Pork, aged Vermont cheddar, and champagne mustard on wheat with lettuce and mayo. Oh, omnipresent Jesus, how delicious! Gaslight Board members and goers alike flocked down to the Public Square Monday and Thursday to grab a special. We even offered half off admission if you brought your receipt!

But all sammies aside, the fact that Circles did this for us was overwhelmingly supportive of Gaslight Theatre Co. and the arts in general! For two days this week, one little business helped one little theatre company and together – it was a beautiful (and tasty) thing.

We have one night left. One more chance to wow the crowd. One more chance to bring eight original pieces to the stage, but not our last chance to bring more awesome theatre to NEPA. It’s been another great year of Playroom and I’ve enjoyed every second and every sandwich.

-Brandi George

Last night we re-opened our Playroom:Bathroom series to a wonderful little crowd! We were lucky enough to have Kait Burrier in the audience, author of one of my directing pieces, Spill, and on Sunday we also had Jennifer Hill, author of another of my pieces, The Inside of a Watermelon Seed. Slowly but surely the playwrights have been trickling in to witness their works be mounted for the first time. As a director, it’s certainly daunting to know, “This night could be the night they love or hate what they wrote… and that could be because of me.” There’s an undeniable pressure and anxiety when the lights go up and it’s out of your hands. But at the same time, that’s what makes Playroom so exciting. How often can you say you directed an original work that the playwright came to see? How often can you watch their very first reactions to their own dialogue from stage right? And as an audience member, you could very well be sitting right next to that playwright as they hear their own words for that very first time; their giggles and gasps as they revisit their play for the first time in months – how exciting!

This is why the Playroom series is so special and hopefully this is one of the reasons why we’ve been getting some awesome houses… it’s just too interesting of an experience to miss. It’s such a great feeling to be able to talk to your playwright following the show and then feel their gratitude for taking their play and bringing it to life. It’s a wonderful feeling and I thank Kait, Jenny, and all the other playwrights for being a part of this type of theatre.

Now that we’re in our second week we’ve had some MAJOR developments and changes. The directors never stop working, the company is becoming more of a family every day, and we’re getting some wonderful feedback. What’s not to like? One weekend down, one in progress, one to go! Go Gaslight!

-Brandi George