SEPTEMBER 14th -- A Double Dose of Jasper

Mark your calendars for the evening of Saturday, September 14th, after the LSU/Carolina game, to come out to Harbison Theatre for a double dose of Columbia Arts. Help Jasper welcome renown graphic artist Nate Puza to the walls of our Harbison Gallery with a free drop-in opening reception starting at 6 pm. Enjoy meeting Nate and hearing about his art, sip a little something, have a little snack, and chat with friends until 7:30 when the curtain rises on more new art coming out of Columbia, SC!

Let It Grow, by Chad Henderson, winner of the Jasper Project’s 2024 Play Right Project series, will premiere as a staged reading  and offer us the right to say I saw it first when it inevitably moves on to other stages near and far. Directed by Marybeth Gorman Craig, and starring Libby Campbell-Turner, G. Scott Wild, Kayla Machado, and David Britt, Let It Grow is a sweet and poignant comedy that looks at the expectations we share about family-like relationships, what happens when players outside of those relationships insert themselves, and PLANTS! The Play Right Series is administered by SC playwright Jon Tuttle and is in its fourth cycle of midwifing new theatre art onto the stage exclusively from South Carolina playwrights.

Previous Play Right Series winning plays include Sharks and Other Lovers by Randall David Cook, Moon Swallower by Colby Quick, and Therapy by Lonetta Thompson. Lonetta Thompson’s Therapy will be fully produced by the NiA Company August 29, 30, 31st at the Trustus Theatre Side Door Theatre and Jasper strongly encourages you to come out and support this new art, too! Tickets for Lonetta Thompson’s Therapy are here.

NATE PUZA OPENING RECEPTION

6 PM – FREE

 

LET IT GROW by Chad Henderson

7:30 pm -TICKETS

 

And while we have you, check out Harbison Theatre’s exciting calendar of events for 2024 – 2025 including Ensemble Eclectica on August 24th, South Carolina’s own singer-songwriter Cody Webb on September 6th, and The Box Masters featuring Billy Bob Thornton with opening act The Capital City Playboys, Friday October 18th!

Jasper Announces Call for Scripts for Play Right Series 2023

Still reveling in the success of Colby Quick’s Moon Swallower, The Jasper Project is pleased to announce the next cycle of the Play Right Series, a collaboration between South Carolina theatre artists and Community Producers, culminating in 2023 with the staged reading of another brand new South Carolina play.

The play submission window is now open; it will close on December  31, 2022 at which time the Play Right Series committee will select a play for the next round of development. 

“Development,” in this case, means round-table readings and discussions with paid professional director, cast, and crew, and attended by Community Producers and other professionals, followed by rehearsals, and a public presentation of a fully realized staged reading.

Read about the 2022 staged reading of Colby Quick’s Moon Swallower, directed by Chad Henderson..

The development process will be facilitated by Community Producers—audience members invested in the development process and supportive of the state’s theatrical and literary talent who exchange a modest financial contribution for the experience.*

A final version of the winning play will be published and filed with the Library of Congress, with copies distributed to the winning playwright as well as industry leaders in the area and beyond.

Professor Jon Tuttle will serve as the Project Manager for the Jasper Project’s Play Right Series again in 2023..

• Playwrights must be natives or residents of South Carolina.  

• Plays may be on any topic, using language appropriate to the subject matter, though please: no musicals or children’s plays, and only one submission per playwright.

• Submissions must be one-act plays, 45-75 minutes in length, typed according to industry-standard format. 

• Collections of shorter revue sketches on a common theme will be considered.

• Please include, as a cover sheet, a short (one-page) biography of the playwright and description of the play, and include cast size and any unusual technical demands, bearing in mind that smaller and fewer are usually preferable.  

• Please submit your play to playrightseries@jasperproject.org

DEADLINE - DECEMBER 31, 2022

*In 2022 CPs each invested $250 tax deductible

Columbia Theatre Stars Come Together for Jasper Project Staged Reading of MOON SWALLOWER

SUNDAY AUGUST 28TH

DOORS AT 3:30 - SHOW AT 4 PM

CMFA - 914 PULASKI STREET

$10 W/ RECEPTION

MOON SWALLOWER BY COLBY QUICK

left to right - Chad Henderson, Chris Cockrell, Michael Hazin, and Becky Hunter

Join some of the city’s most exciting theatre artists this Sunday as they bring a brand-new play to the stage of CMFA. Directed by Chad Henderson, MOON SWALLOWER by Sumter playwright, Colby Quick, is the winner of the 2022 Jasper Project Play Right Series.

A one-act coming-of-age exploration that embraces the world of Youtube, gentle drug use, family dynamics, performative Christianity, and yes, the possibility of werewolves, this is not your typical staged reading.

Check all your expectations of straight back chairs and music stands at the door. Henderson has included lights, music, sound effects and more in this tease of what a full-blown production would look like. And the actors are anything but sedentary. From fight scenes to actors climbing on tables and hissing like creatures of the night, this is an exciting look at an exciting new project coming out of Columbia, SC.

Tickets are only $10.

Join this accomplished cast and crew for a fun Sunday reading complete with wine, snacks, and an opportunity for you to learn more about the page to stage process courtesy of the Jasper Project!

BECKY HUNTER

CHRIS COCKRELL

MICHAEL HAZIN

LONETTA THOMPSON

RICHARD EDWARD

CHAD HENDERSON

PRESS RELEASE: THE JASPER PROJECT PRESENTS A STAGED READING OF COLBY QUICK’S NEW PLAY, MOON SWALLOWER, WINNER OF THE 2022 PLAY RIGHT SERIES PROJECT

Sunday, August 28th at 4pm

Columbia Music Festival Association

914 Pulaski Street

Panel Presentation and Reception to Follow

The Jasper Project is excited to present the staged reading of MOON SWALLOWER a new play by Sumter playwright Colby Quick. MOON SWALLOWER is directed by veteran theatre artist Chad Henderson and features Michael Hazin, Lonetta Thompson, Richard Edwards, Becky Hunter, and Chris Cockrell.

MOON SWALLOWER is the winner of the Jasper Project’s 2022 Play Right Series, an endeavor in which unpublished playwrights are invited to submit their work in competition for a cash prize, publication of their play in book form, and workshopping and development of the play with skilled professional theatre artists, culminating in a staged reading. Dr. Jon Tuttle, playwright in residence at Francis Marion University and member of the Jasper Project board of directors, is the director of the Jasper Project Play Right Series.

MOON SWALLOWER is an alternative coming-of-age story of a young man who finds himself stuck somewhere between small town ideologies and big world expectations with a heavy influence of social media, domestic awkwardness, and the possibility of werewolves. It is a comedy that has kept the case laughing throughout rehearsals.

The Play Right Series is a unique machination for bringing new plays and playwrights to the forefront of local performing arts by calling on Community Producers to invest a modest amount of money in the workshopping and ultimate staged reading of the play in exchange for their intimate involvement in the processes involved in taking a play from page to stage. Community Producers for MOON SWALLOWER are Bill Schmidt, Bert Easter, Ed Madden, Paul Leo, Eric Tucker, Kirkland Smith, James Smith, Wade Sellers, and Cindi Boiter.

The first iteration of the Play Right Series involved a new work from SC playwright Randall David Cook whose play, SHARKS AND OTHER LOVERS was produced in 2017 and directed by Larry Hembree. SHARKS AND OTHER LOVERS has gone on to win multiple awards and be presented throughout the US.

The Staged Reading for MOON SWALLOWER will be held Sunday afternoon, August 28th at 4 pm (doors at 3:30) at Columbia Music Festival Association, 914 Pulaski Street. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. The performance will be followed by a panel discussion including cast and Community Producers, hosted by Jon Tuttle, with a reception following. Copies of the play, MOON SWALLOWER, will be available for purchase at the event or online at Amazon.com.

Tickets are available at  The Jasper Project.

Jasper Presents the Staged Reading of the 2022 Play Right Series Winning Play -- Moon Swallower by Colby Quick

MOON SWALLOWER STAGED READING

SUNDAY AUGUST 28TH — 4 PM

at CMFA

TICKETS $10 ADVANCE - $12 AT THE DOOR

The Jasper Project presents the staged reading of a brand-new play, Moon Swallower by novice playwright, Colby Quick.

Quick is the winner of Jasper’s second Play Right Series competition in which he competed with other unpublished playwrights for an opportunity to have his play workshopped and developed by a team of seasoned theatre artists with the end result being a staged reading and the option of further development toward a fully realized stage production.

Moon Swallower will be presented at CMFA on Sunday August 28th at 4 pm with a talk back session and reception following the reading.

Moon Swallower is directed by Chad Henderson with a cast that includes Lonetta Thompson, Stann Gwynn, Becky Hunter, Richard Edwards, and Michael Hazin. Katie Leitner is the stage manager. Veteran playwright Jon Tuttle is the project manager for the 2022 Play Right Series.

The 2022 Jasper Play Right Series is made possible by the contributions of a team of Community Producers, all of whom will have contributed financially to the development of the project and have, reciprocally, been involved in the process from an educational perspective.

They are Bert Easter, Ed Madden, James Smith, Kirkland Smith, Bill Schmidt, Paul Leo, Eric Tucker, Cindi Boiter, Wade Sellers, and Jon Tuttle.

The purpose of the Play Right Series is to empower and enlighten Community Producers by allowing them insider views of the steps and processes of creating theatre art. In exchange for a  minimal financial contribution, Community Producers are invited to attend designated open readings and rehearsals, informal presentations by cast and crew, and opening night performances with producer credits. The result is that Community Producers learn about the extensive process of producing a play and become invested personally in the production and success of the play and its cast and crew, thereby become diplomats of theatre arts.

Community Producers’ names, and that of the Jasper Project, will also be permanently attached to the play and will appear in the published manuscript which will be registered with the Library of Congress and for sale via a number of standard outlets under the auspices of Muddy Ford Press and the imprint of the Jasper Project.

The Jasper Project produced their first Play Right Series in 2017, producing a staged reading of Randall David Cook’s Sharks and Other Lovers under the direction of Larry Hembree. 

About the playwright: Colby Quick is a thirty-one-year-old writer, singer, musician, actor, husband, and father of two. He is the lead singer and guitarist of a Stoner Doom band known as Juggergnome and in the development phase of a rap duo project called Ski & Beige. Colby played Ebenezer Scrooge in Northeastern Technical College’s stage production of A Christmas Carol in 2019 and is currently in his final semester at Francis Marion University as an English Major and Creative Writing Minor. “I have mostly written poems, songs, and short stories, as well as an unpublished novel.: Quick says. “When I was young, I would make stop-motion videos and I wrote scripts for all of them. I think this helped a lot with writing the Moon Swallower.”

About the project manager: Jon Tuttle is Professor of English and Director of University Honors at Francis Marion University, author of THE TRUSTUS COLLECTION (Muddy Ford Press, 2019), which includes six of his plays that premiered at Columbia’s Trustus Theatre, and a recipient of the South Carolina Governor’s Award in the Humanities.

Last Call for Play Right Series Community Producers

Meet Colby Quick.

Colby Quick is the Jasper Project’s 2022 Play Right Series Winning Playwright.

We’re wrapping up our cast of 2022 Jasper Play Right Series Community Producers and we have a few seats left at the table.

You can learn more about the process of how a play moves from page to stage, be our honored guest once a month at intimate, fun, and informative panel parties with Jon Tuttle, Chad Henderson, Stann Gwynn, Becky Hunter, Michael Hazin, and more, and have YOUR NAME attached as a producer to a brand new piece of theatre that will premiere as a staged reading in August, with you in the best (and most honored) seats in the house.

You can read more about the Play Right Series at the Jasper website but, in-a-nutshell, the purpose of the Play Right Series is threefold:

• ·         To empower and enlighten audiences (you) by allowing them insider views of the steps and processes of creating theatre art

• ·         To increase opportunities for theatre artists to participate in new art without being attached to an existing theatre organization

• ·         To provide more affordable and experimental theatre arts experiences for new and emerging theatre artists and their audiences; thereby expanding cultural literacy and theatre arts appreciation in the greater SC Midlands area.

The result: Community Producers (you) who learn about the extensive process of producing a play and become personally invested not just in the production and success of the play, but also in its playwright, cast, and crew, thereby becoming diplomats of theatre arts.

Last fall, the Jasper Project issued a call for a new one-act play and the competition was begun. Under veteran playwright Jon Tuttle’s direction, scripts were submitted and adjudicated by a committee of outside theatre artists. The winning play, Moon Swallower by Sumter writer Colby Quick, was selected as the play that we (hopefully, you included) will produce over the next few months, culminating in the first ever Staged Reading of this brand-new play in August 2022.

We’re delighted to announce that Chad Henderson has agreed to serve as the director of Moon Swallower and has included among his cast such outstanding Midlands artists as Stann Gwynn, Michael Hazin, Becky Hunter, and Lonetta Thompson.

We have scheduled a series of gatherings for Community Producers and Moon Swallower cast and crew over the next six months leading up to the Staged Reading. Each gathering will feature an interactive presentation as well as a unique social component that you can read about in the attached calendar of events. (SEE SCHEDULE BELOW!)

All we need to do now is fill out our roster of Community Producers, and I hope you will consider being among them. The minimum investment for Community Producers is $250 per person with 100% of the funds going to the production of Moon Swallower.

Our first gathering is at 5 pm on Sunday March 20th when Community Producers will meet each other and the cast and crew of Moon Swallower for the first time, hear playwright Colby Quick talk about his inspiration for Moon Swallower, and receive their signed copy of Moon Swallower to take home and be among the first ever to read. 

Sunday March 20th - Meet the team and Playwright Talk

Join playwright Colby Quick to learn about his inspiration for Moon Swallower and hear him discuss his writing process and challenges, as well as his own background and goals while enjoying Wine & Cheese.

    

Sunday April 24  - Table Reading

Listen in on the first ever table reading of Moon Swallower and enjoy a unique Beer Tasting with snacks.

 

Sunday May 22nd - Director Talk

Join director Chad Henderson to learn about his background and process, the industry lessons that prepare him for directing a play, and the unique challenges and solutions he has encountered in directing Moon Swallower while enjoying the project’s official signature cocktail, The Moon Swallower.

 

Sunday June 26 - Backstage with the Actors

Listen in as the cast of Moon Swallower discusses their processes, challenges presented by their characters, and more, and enjoy a summer picnic with spiked lemonade & finger sammies.

               

Sunday July 24th - Stage Managing, Props, Costumes, Lighting, and Sound

It’s out last Community Producer gathering before the big event, so Chad, Jon, and our stage manager will discuss the components above before we pop the champagne and party!         

Sunday August 28th - It’s finally time for the Staged Reading of Moon Swallower with a full audience and you get the best seats in the house!

Email Cindi@JasperColumbia.com

Colby Quick Wins Play Right Series and You're Invited to Join the Play Right Project Team as a Community Producer

The Jasper Project is proud to announce the winner of our 2nd PLAY RIGHT SERIES project—Colby Quick for his play, Moon Swallower

Colby Quick is a thirty-one-year-old writer, singer, musician, actor, husband, and father of two. He is the lead singer and guitarist of a Stoner Doom band known as Juggergnome and in the development phase of a rap duo project called Ski & Beige. Colby played Ebenezer Scrooge in Northeastern Technical College’s stage production of A Christmas Carol in 2019 and is currently in his final semester at Francis Marion University as an English Major and Creative Writing Minor. “I have mostly written poems, songs, and short stories, as well as an unpublished novel.: Quick says. “When I was young, I would make stop-motion videos and I wrote scripts for all of them. I think this helped a lot with writing the Moon Swallower.”

Now it’s your chance to join the Jasper Project’s Play Right Series as a Community Producer.

Are you the kind of person who always wants to know more about the art you experience?

• Why did the playwright make their characters the way they did?

• What was the director trying to accomplish by having an actor move across stage, turn their back to the audience, or break into dance?

• How did an actor make me feel the way they did simply by turning their head?

If you have a passion for knowing more, understanding process, inspiration, and impetus, and seeing how a virgin play goes from page to stage, you are a good candidate for becoming a Jasper Project Play Right Series Community Producer.

 

What is a Community Producer?

Community Producers are important members of the Play Right Series Team who, in exchange for their investment of a modest amount of funding, ($250 each or $500 per couple) become engaged in the development of a virgin play from the first time the actors meet until the production of a staged reading of the play in front of an audience.

Between February and August 2022, Community Producers will gather monthly to explore the process of a play moving from page to stage with presentations that include

• ·         Meet the Playwright: Colby Quick

• ·         Meet the Director: Chad Henderson

• ·         First Table Reading with your host, Jon Tuttle

• ·         Behind the scenes with the Cast of Moon Swallower

• ·         Stage managing, props, costumes, lighting, & sound with your host, Jon Tuttle

• ·         And finally, a Staged Reading before a live audience with the Community Producers front and center as our esteemed Guests of Honor*

You’ll enjoy wine, cheese, socializing, and an assortment of other unique snacks at every event, as well as Jasper Project swag bags and FREE admission to the Jasper Project 10th Birthday Celebration rescheduled for Thursday April 14th at 701 Whaley!

* For the Staged Reading, Guests of Honor will be seated in the best seats in the house, acknowledged from the stage and in all programming, promotions, and press releases, as well as on the Jasper Project website and in the Fall 2022 issue of Jasper Magazine.

Play Right Series History

The Play Right Series is an endeavor to enlighten and empower audiences with information about the process involved in creating theatrical arts, at the same time that we engineer and increase opportunities for SC theatre artists to create and perform new works for theatre. Our first project in the Play Right Series was in 2017 when Larry Hembree led project members to ultimately produce a staged reading of Sharks and Other Lovers by SC playwright Randall David Cook. Sharks went on to win a number of awards and has been produced off-Broadway. SC Playwright Professor Jon Tuttle of Francis Marion University is overseeing this project for 2022 with a new team of theatre artists including Chad Henderson (director), Colby Quick (playwright), Cindi Boiter and Christina Xan (Community Producer Liaisons), and more.

The Jasper Project is currently recruiting 10 individuals to join the Play Right Series as Community Producers. Click here or write to Cindi@Jasper Columbia.com for more information.