John N. Frank, co-founder of the 2nd Act Players, will be portraying an elderly Albert Einstein in a planned stage reading of a new play, Einstein’s Compass produced by Chicago’s Royal James Theater. The reading will take place Tuesday, Oct. 11, at 7 p.m. in The Merion, an Evanston senior-living residence. The part represents Frank’s […]
Two plays written by 2nd Act Players’ founder John N. Frank will be performed by two other theater groups online this June and July. The plays were originally performed by the 2nd Act Players in 2017 and 2018. A theater group called Play Readings with Friends will read Frank’s New Year’s Eve at Grandma’s House […]
Hannah Goodman, who wowed audiences during the 2nd Act Players’ 2017 performances of Moving Boxes, has been accepted for a summer study program at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. The 133-year-old conservatory numbers among its alumni Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, Robert Redford. Lauren Bacall, Danny DeVito, Kirk Douglas and scores of […]
Another 2nd Act Players’ world premiere, the two-act family drama Moving Boxes, has drawn the curtain for the final time and so we want to thank everyone involved in the production. Finding a cast for a play like this is always an adventure. A director never knows who he or she may end up working […]
Moving Boxes is the fifth play I’ve written in the last five years. Someone had the temerity to tell me last year, “you can’t keep writing a new play every year.” Well, I could and I did, so there.
Moving Boxes co-author John N. Frank and one of its cast members, Hannah Goodman, recently discussed the exciting new play that audiences are raving about with WCGO radio host Daniel French. Listen to them describe the heart of this story of the meaning of family, then click here to buy tickets for one of four […]
Julia begins the play as an isolated teen wondering where she fits in to her dysfunctional family. But as the show progresses, she comes to better know her grandmother, Faye, and starts to get some answers to the questions we all ask about where do we come from and where do we belong.
The Evanston area is awash with places to eat, but most close before you’ll get out of Saturday evening shows of Moving Boxes (night shows end at roughly 9:30), so we advise you to eat before the Saturday shows. If you’re coming to a Sunday matinée, plenty of places will be open after the show, […]