Last year shortly before Christmas break, I presented my play, Scratchin’ on the Eight Ball at the ancient Joyo Theater in the small suburb of Havelock. My five member cast hit a home run during both nights of the production, despite the fact they had no sound system and their only lighting was provided by 3 sets of carpenter’s lights, those strange contraptions with a metal cone attached.

The play was based on my book and detailed the fact-based murder of a young female informant who was found on a farm outside of Lincoln, NE. back in 1976. My cast consisted of two delinquent boys who end up with the evidence which would solve the girl’s murder, a detective who is determined to obtain this evidence, and an older brother who is determined to see that his little brother comes out of the whole ordeal alive. The last character was a female probation officer who is trying to keep her young charge from ending up in more trouble because of the evidence he’s found.

During the show, you could have heard a pin drop! The audience made up of young and old alike, were on the edge of their seats, and despite the lack of a sound system in the old Joyo Theater, were hanging on every word of the actors on stage.

I believe the content of the play, with its actual fact-based storyline, kept the audience mystified and spell-bound during the 2-act performance. 8-Ball the play was a smashing success with over 420 folks in attendance during the 2 night run, in a theater with a seating capacity of 230.

So now, I am putting in a plan to do another run of the play on Friday Dec. 17th, plus add a new play, Bloody Mary, to the next night’s performance. This second play, also based on my book, The Woods of Bloody Mary, is about the fact-based event that rocked Lincoln back in 1966, when retired school teacher Mary Partington shot and killed a young man climbing into her kitchen window. The story is told through the eyes of two delinquent boys who were eye-witnesses to the actual shooting.

I think the secret in reaching such a wide range audience, 10-75 year olds, is the details to the facts that I include in both scripts, and time will tell on the day after both performances, whether I will have succeeded in my efforts to entertain/educate the crowd once again. I will write a feature story on Dec. 19th to sum up the two night event.

Hope to see you there.   

All within the first week of putting out a new call for actors to fill the roles in the Scratchin’ on the Eight Ball play, almost my entire old cast said they were on for another run.

Alex, Brandon, and Ben will play the major roles of Reason, Vince and Collin. As soon as Denny is done filming the current horror film he’s involved in, he will come on board to renew his role as Detective Shepherd. I am still needing a 19-21 year old to play Boone and a 25-45 year-old female to play Miss Thurston, Reason’s probation officer. I also need a bully (15-17 year-old) to play the part of Randy. 

We are performing three scenes on Dec. 17 again at the Joyo theater. This time, however, there will be a $3 admission fee. There will be a special fee allowed for drug/youth groups. For those this applies to, call me at 464-0164 and I will discuss this with you. 

Late last night I wrote 2 scenes for my newest play, Bloody Mary, based on my book and the real-life story of Mary Partington. I will need three 13-15 year old boys to play the lead roles, plus a 25-45 year old female to play Detective Dalton, and an older lady to play Mary herself.

I am nearly finished with the third and final scene of this 30 minute production. We will run this on Sat. Dec. 18th at the Joyo. A $3 fee will be charged as there will be live music performed by Dodging Bullets. Plus, Dwight the owner of the Joyo needs to be compensated for so graciously allowing us to perform there last year at this same time.

After both plays, my books will be on sale in the lobby.