Cathrine Goldstein’s play, What Good Did We See Today?, is a very poignant look at the struggles a father and daughter face during the pandemic as his memory slips away and she strives desperately to help him. Goldstein is an award-winning playwright, and a bestselling author of gritty, real-feeling plays, novels, short stories, and poems. […]
Cindi Sansone-Braff’s play, To the Zoom and Back, looks at a senior couple’s attempt to try to connect through online dating in the age of Covid. Sansone-Braff is a member of the Dramatist Guild, has a B.F.A. in theatre from UCONN, and is a playwright, author, actor, dancer, producer, director, and the co-founder of Tomorrow’s […]
Valerie Gorman last appeared with the 2nd Act Players in its 2019 production of Old Ringers, the last play we did on-stage prior to the pandemic. In Pandemic Stories, she plays a woman trying online dating for the first time in To The Zoom and Back, a West Texas lunch lady in the play Lunch […]
John Mabey’s play Second Acts, Second Helpings, looks at a couple’s actions and attitudes toward life after the pandemic has finally subsided. Mabey’s plays have been published and produced across the United States and Europe, and this year his work is included in Smith & Kraus Best 10-Minute Plays and Smith & Kraus Best Women’s Monologues. In […]
Actor Nick Dorado made his 2nd Act Players’ debut online last fall in our 60 is the New 40 Play Festival, playing a variety of characters in several short plays. He’ll be returning to our virtual stage this spring in two plays, [Brackets], in which he plays a curmudgeonly editor dealing with the losses Covid […]
Craig Gustafson’s play [Brackets] deals with a suburban newspaper editor and his daughter facing some of the worst that the pandemic has to offer, while debating old habits that might not be relevant any longer Graid Gustafson Gustafosn’s plays have been performed locally at Chicago’s Yippiefest, GreenMan Theatre Troupe, Wheaton Drama and Riverfront Playhouse, which […]
Donna Latham’s play Lunch Lady was written as a monologue for one actor, but with her agreement, we’ve modified it slightly to include three lunch ladies, all dealing with the challenges of working during the Pandemic. Latham is a feminist playwright from Chicago whose plays have been produced coast to coast and around the world. […]
The Evanston 2nd Act Players is honored to be partnering with award-winning Black Playwright Idris Goodwin this summer to stream Black Flag, a short play that is one of five in Goodwin’s Open Source Scripts for an Antiracist Tomorrow. “TYA/USA [Theatre for Young Audiences USA], New York’s New Victory Theatre and I collaborated to provide […]
The Evanston 2nd Act Players spring 2021 production, Pandemic Stories: 7 tales of love, life and loss will open online Friday, April 23, with shows running Friday, Saturday and Sundays through May 2. The production features seven 10-minute plays, the winners of the 2nd Act Players spring 2021 new script competition, which examine the […]
The winners of the 2nd Act Players spring new script competition, 2021 isn’t 2020, or is it? include award-winning playwrights, returning 2nd Act Players’ competition winners, and the first winner of a 2nd Act Players’ new script competition who resides outside the United States. Both Craig Gustafson and John Mabey had scripts performed by the […]