[NEohioPAL] FIRST MONDAYS LAUNCHES A NEW SEASON AT THE ALCAZAR

[Jean Seitter Cummins]

FIRST MONDAYS finds a new home next month at The Alcazar, the historic
residence at the top of Cedar Hill in the Cedar Fairmount neighborhood.
Produced for the last three years by Dobama Theatre at the CH-UH main
library, the series is primarily dedicated to the reading of new plays,
although poetry and new fiction are also featured on a rotating basis. FIRST
MONDAYS launches its new season at The Alcazar on Monday, February 1, at 7
p.m. with a reading of The Ravens Feed Us by Manhattan-based playwright
Margaret Hunt.

“Our last three readings in Dobama’s new theatre played to full houses,”
explains Jean Cummins who founded the program back in 2006 with the support
of Dobama’s then artistic director Joyce Casey. “We did a two-part reading
of my piece Pray for the Missing Girls in November and December and read
Margaret Lynch’s new work, For the Price of a Cow, in January. We’re just
hoping that the large and very engaged audience we have developed at Dobama
will follow us to our new home, which is somewhat cozier and more congenial
to the work we want to do.”

“We focus on stories that touch the human heart.  That doesn’t mean happy
endings but it does mean good old fashioned stories that most theaters can’t
afford to do.  Whether because of cast size or the insecurity that comes
from dwindling audiences, today’s theater favors edgy, small cast, highly
theatrical issue-centered ‘encounters.’  We’re betting that audiences are
still hungry for character-driven stories and actors are longing to play
real characters.  The size of our houses and the talent we’ve been able to
gather suggests that we may be right.”

The Alcazar is located at 2450 Derbyshire, just off Cedar Road (behind
Bruegger’s Bagels). Some street parking is available on Derbyshire and
Surrey, as well as metered parking in the city lot next to Night Town and
two-storey metered parking across the street from Bruegger’s. Special
arrangements for handicapped parking inside The Alcazar garage can be made
by calling 216.321.5400 in advance of the program.

Admission is $5. “The program used to be a free,” explains Cummins, “with a
suggested donation of $5. But now that we’re on our own, we have to charge
$5 a head to cover our costs. Still a bargain, though, I think.”