CHARACTERS

THE ANYTOWN COMMUNITY THEATER 
PLAY SELECTION COMMITTEE (All age 60+)

MARGARET
Chair of the Committee and a
Professor Emeritus at The University.
 
MARYBETH
Long-time member of the Committee
and Muffin-Maker.

WALTER & SIDNEY
Long-time members of the Committee
and “grumpy old-men.”
 
WENDY
A 20-something PhD Researcher
It is suggested Wendy be a Person of Color. 

SYNOPSIS

The Anytown Community Theater Play Selection Committee is meeting to prepare for their annual Festival of New Plays. They meet to write a Call for Submissions notice, the first step in attracting Playwrights who might submit their work for consideration. The four members of the committee -Margaret, Marybeth, Sidney, and Walter - are all in their sixties and have been together since elementary school. They are all Caucasian with little diversity among and between themselves. They have lived in their bubble for a long time, producing theater according to tradition. But their bubble is burst this year because The Community Theater Association of America (CTAA), of which their group is a member, has “woke” up. The CTAA has strongly encouraged its members to promote the representation and participation of different groups of individuals, including people of different ages, races and ethnicities, abilities and disabilities, genders, religions, cultures and sexual orientations. The folks have little shared experience to deal with such things, but fortunately, the group will be joined this year by Wendy, a 20-something PhD Candidate from the University. Wendy is well-informed about the aforementioned issues and so, the young become teacher to the old. But still, the “old,” at the end, draw on something deeper than information,  a knowledge not found in Wendy’s Doctoral studies, an abiding knowledge of self and others and one’s place in the world that only comes with age.