Fifth Writefest

The fifth Writefest starts on Thursday and last weekend was a busy one for all those involved. With seven separate plays the final technical weekend is more complicated than for a single production. When Progress Blog arrived on Sunday afternoon they were just finishing setting the lights for the final play. Stage managers Emma Walsh and Sian Davies were busy glueing felt to the bottom of two black boxes used in several of the plays. The boxes get moved around a lot and were scrapping the stage floor.

Sian is a new member and as well as helping back stage for Writefest she is playing one of the nasty (not ugly!) sisters in The Ash Girl. Her previous theatre experience has included producing Cinderella in Georgia. It was a production that started as a casual idea among friends "wouldn't it be fun to .." and ended with a budget of thousands, a 300+ seater theatre, two ambassadors in the cast and the Georgian defence minister in the audience.

Sian was in Georgia during the war with Russia in 2008. She became something of a media celebrity as her blog was seen as one of the few sources of reliable information to the outside world. I asked her if being in Reading was a bit dull after the excitement  of Georgia but she said she is enjoying herself at Progress and at least she doesn't have to worry about Russian tanks.

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Coming up...

Writefest 4th to 6th November 2010

Ajax by Sophocles 25th November to 4th December 2010

Auditions for for Teechers by John Godber Sun 12th December at 2.30pm &Tues 14th December at 7.30pm

The Ash Girl by Timberlake Wertenbaker 10th to 16th January 2011

See Progress Theatre website for details of all our productions and auditions.