Key West Fringe is offering a free short playwriting program beginning this month. Toby Armour, recently named Resident Playwright of the Fringe Theater, will lead the 16-week program, titled Grande Dames of Key West. In this the newest of the Keys’ professional theaters returns to its deepest roots: its predecessor, People’s Theater of Key West originated with Chris Tittel and Connie Hurst’s playwriting workshops.

The new program will focus on the development of 15-minute plays about the lives of local women who have made a difference. There will be a public staged reading of the plays in May. There is no requirement for a playwriting background but rather an interest in writing and a sincere desire to try the short play form. Writers will choose a subject, research the woman’s life, select an anecdote or story to write about, and work with Armour in weekly sessions to develop their play. Workshops will be held in the Historic Rectory at St Paul’s Church on Duval Street.

“Our mission is to bring theater arts into the community and we are very fortunate to have Toby on board to share her expertise with locals interested in writing,” said Fringe Artistic Director Monnie King.

Armour is a national award-winning playwright and Jerome Fellow, many of whose plays are based on oral history and stories of community. She has led writing workshops in Arizona, New York, and New England. Her plays have been done in traditional, as well as such non-traditional venues, as a saloon (Flagstaff, AZ) a hole in the ground (Boston’s Jamaica Plain) and a whorehouse-turned public library (Patagonia, AZ). 

The course will be added to the Fringe’s other community programs: Shakespeare in School, which brings live Shakespeare performances to schools in Monroe county, and the wildly successful Fringe Benefits short play program Alice’s Parlor which offered acting opportunities to “lapsed” actors; and Key West Characters, which commissions plays about Key West’s past, such as Conch Republic (The Musical) which will run for the third straight year in April.

For dates, time or other details, or to discuss your writing interests with Armour, call 203-645-9790 or email [email protected]. Early registrationj is recommended as space is limited. Fringe Executive Director Caroline Stover-Sickmen may be reached at [email protected].

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