Berkshire Playwrights Lab schedules a free staged reading workshop production of Keeping Time, a new play with music by Joe Cacaci, to be directed by the author, on Wednesday, July 28 at 8pm, at Monument Mountain Regional High School. For reservations, call 413-528-0100 or visit the Mahaiwe Box Office.
Keeping Time, which is set in New York City in 1965, tells the story of two close friends, Willie, a black pianist, composer, and singer and Paul, who is a white singer. The two men have a long-running act and are finally on the brink of getting their big break when they get caught up in and caught off guard by the civil rights movement, threatening both their friendship and their dream. Complicating the action are Bennie (their longtime manager), Rose (a journalist), and Anna (a dancer).
About Joe Cacaci
Joe Cacaci is a founding co-artistic director (with Jim Frangione, Bob Jaffe, and Matthew Penn) of the Berkshire Playwrights Lab. He was also the founding director of East Coast Arts, where he produced twenty world-premiere plays over seven seasons, and he has served since 1993 as the producing director (with Dan Lauria) of the Playwrights Kitchen Ensemble in Los Angeles, where over 500 new plays have been given staged readings in the Monday Night Reading Series. His own plays have been produced at the Public Theater, Coconut Grove Theatre (where he also directed), Long Wharf Theater, and Alley Theatre in Houston, as well as commercially in New York and Los Angeles. He co-produced David Mamet’s Obie-winning play Edmond at the Provincetown Playhouse, as well as directing at the Westport Playhouse and commercially in Los Angeles.
Joe Cacaci has written numerous made-for-television movies and co-created the CBS prime time series The Trials of Rosie O’Neill. He was executive producer of two prime time series: Showtime’s The Hoop Life and CBS’ The Education of Max Bickford, and he directed the PBS pilot Copshop. Currently, Mr. Cacaci teaches television writing in the graduate program of the Film School at Columbia University. He recently directed the feature film Snatched, which premiered at the Slamdance Festival in January, 2010, and completed a screenplay about the Negro Leagues for Lightworks Pictures.
The cast for this workshop reading includes Larry Bryggman, Tituss Burgess, Ylfa Edelstein, with two additional actors to be announced. The play includes an original song composed by Bennie Wallace, with lyrics by Mr. Cacaci. Mr. Wallace has composed scores for feature films such as White Men Can’t Jump and Blaze, and worked with Mr. Cacaci on the TV shows Copshop and The Hoop Life. Music will be performed live on stage by the actors.
Larry Bryggman has won two Obie Awards, been nominated for a Drama Desk Award, as well as twice-nominated for a Tony Award. He has appeared in the TV shows As the World Turns and Law and Order, the movies Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) and Spy Games (2001), and the Broadway shows Twelve Angry Men, Proof, and Picnic. Tituss Burgess recently finished a revival of Guys and Dolls on Broadway, and other Broadway credits include The Little Mermaid, Jersey Boys, and Good Vibrations. Ylfa Edelstein was a regular cast member in two TV series, The Hoop Life and The Education of Max Bickford, and has appeared in episodes of Law and Order, Law and Order: SVU, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, and the pilot Copshop. Most recently, she was a part of the Berkshire Playwrights Lab staged reading production of Eyes Forward by Philip Gerson.
About Berkshire Playwrights Lab
Founded in 2007 by theater professionals Joe Cacaci, Jim Frangione, Bob Jaffe, and Matthew Penn, Berkshire Playwrights Lab is dedicated to encouraging, developing, and presenting new plays. Currently, through readings, and, in the future, through workshops, and fully-staged productions, the Lab provides emerging and established writers with a professional and creative environment, while offering audiences the unique and provocative opportunity to share in the dramatic evolution of premiere works. For more information, see www.berkshireplaywrightslab.org.