The Playground’s The Thing

Susan Lyles of And Toto Too theater company, an ensemble dedicated to presenting work by women playwrights, was looking for something different to fill the final slot of the season. “I got to thinking about what might happen if I got a group of playwrights together and had them all...

By Susan Froyd

November 20, 2014

Audio By Carbonatix

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Susan Lyles of And Toto Too theater company, an ensemble dedicated to presenting work by women playwrights, was looking for something different to fill the final slot of the season. “I got to thinking about what might happen if I got a group of playwrights together and had them all write about a specific location,” she recalls. “So I decided on a park, and that it would revolve around a 24-hour time period.”

The result is The Playground, a tapestry of five short plays written on short notice by five local women. The show opens today for a three-weekend run and includes stories about everything from “firemen and superheroes to soccer moms and angels.”

Lyles says the production came together in seat-of-the-pants fashion: Rebecca Gorman O’Neill, Leslie C. Lewis, Nina Alice Miller, Carrie Printz and Nicolette Vajtay threw together their scripts beginning in September, then “sat in on rehearsals, tweaking and rewriting,” all in a period of about four weeks. “I’m not sure my playwrights are ready to kill me yet,” Lyles says. “It’s asking a lot, but they’ve risen to the challenge.”

See how it all came together tonight at 7:30 p.m. at work | space, 2701 Lawrence Street in the Laundry on Lawrence; shows run through November 22. For tickets, $20 to $22 (or $11 on Cheap Date Night, November 12), call 720-583-3975 or visit andtototoo.org.
Wednesdays-Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Wed., Nov. 12, 7:30 p.m. Starts: Nov. 6. Continues through Nov. 22, 2014

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Susan Froyd started writing for Westword as the "Thrills" editor in 1992 and never quite left the fold. These days she still freelances for the paper in addition to walking her dogs, enjoying cheap ethnic food and reading voraciously. Sometimes she writes poetry.

Contact: Susan Froyd

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