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MOON SWALLOWER is the winner of the Jasper Project’s 2022 Play Right Series, an endeavor in which unpublished playwrights are invited to submit their work in competition for a cash prize, publication of their play in book form, and workshopping and development of the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.