{"id":44788,"date":"2021-09-09T16:43:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-09T22:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/sunflower-shorts-spotlight-five-local-playwrights\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:21:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:21:42","slug":"sunflower-shorts-spotlight-five-local-playwrights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/sunflower-shorts-spotlight-five-local-playwrights\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunflower Shorts spotlight five local playwrights"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sunflower
Sunflower Troupe members take a break during rehearsals for the Sunflower Shorts. They are, from left, Heather Musclow, Robby Hennes, Elizabeth Dickey, Sophia Dickey and Clement Sobotka. (Courtesy photo)<\/span>Courtesy photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The Sunflower Troupe, returning to the Cortez stage for the first time since 2019, will hold its first regional play festival, featuring nine plays by area authors Sept. 24-25 at the Sunflower Theatre.<\/p>\n

The original plays comprise the Sunflower Shorts 10-Minute Play Festival. Five are written by Montezuma County residents, according to a news release from Heidi Brugger.<\/p>\n

The shorts \u2013 billed as hilarious, sweet and thought-provoking \u2013 include the work of Kellie Pettyjohn, Elizabeth Dickey and Amelia Greco-Weldon of Mancos; Joseph Keleher of Cortez; and Hugh Robinson of Dolores.<\/p>\n

Other authors include Michael Burgin of Santa Fe, Phil Ginsberg of Colorado Springs and Vicki Meagher of Albuquerque, Brugger said.<\/p>\n

Expect an introduction to a varied range of characters \u2013 oracular talking insects, a 99-year-old sea captain wannabe, a cabbie who is more than a driver and card-playing seafood candidates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe costumes promise to be a visual delight,\u201d Brugger said.<\/p>\n

Kim Welty, the troupe\u2019s executive producer, touted the lineup as a \u201ctheatrical smorgasbord.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith several short plays, everyone should be able to experience at least one work that speaks to them,\u201d said Welty, adding, \u201cNot only will the audience have a selection of genres to experience, but the plays will be presented live on stage, as videos, and even a \u2018radio\u2019 drama in the troupe\u2019s first multimedia production. We will also have ballots for a People\u2019s Choice Award.\u201d<\/p>\n

Planning for Sunflower Shorts began in 2019, but productions were put on hold during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Now, actors and directors are ready to get back on stage in front of a live audience, the news release said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not only a wonderful way to showcase local authors; it has become an opportunity for new directors to test the waters,\u201d Welty said. \u201cTroupe members are working as an ensemble with actors taking roles in a couple of plays, as well as directing. It\u2019s a theatrical smorgasbord.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sunflower Shorts 10-Minute Play Festival runs Friday and Saturday, Sept. 24-25, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 at https:\/\/sunflowertheatre.org\/ticket-info\/ or at the door.<\/p>\n

The Sunflower Troupe is a program of KSJD Community Radio and the Sunflower Theatre. The Sunflower Troupe is a volunteer-run, community theater group in Cortez that provides an outlet for creative community involvement while seeking to produce quality entertainment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

original shorts by local and regional writers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,28,29,910],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-44788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-theatre"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44788"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86229,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44788\/revisions\/86229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44788"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=44788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}