10 Minute Tuesdays

I drove to the Turpin Garage Theater for 10 Minute Tuesdays presented by Phoenix Tears Productions. I love this idea. Spot lights were strung up all around a suburban garage, illuminating a mini set inside the garage. The theater opened at 7:30pm. Tickets are just $2 at the garage door. Meg
had created some adorable buttons and other merchandise from past
scripts. There were four rows of Dick’s lawn chairs set up in front of the garage for the audience. 10 Minute Tuesdays happens on the first Tuesday of every month featuring plays in a set theme. This month’s plays celebrated all things pink and red with a plethora of love and murder. I decided to sit in the back row to get an overall view of the garage theater set up. In most theaters the seats are set up on a ramp that rises towards the back of the theater. A driveway on the other hand slops down towards the street.

My favorite play of the night was the first in the line up of three. Called, Misfortune by Mark Harvey Levine and directed by Madison Payne, the show featured two women who sat in a Chinese restaurant having just finished dinner. The waitress with chop sticks in her hair served them fortune cookies. One woman (Melissa Riggins) read her fortune which was bland, sweet and reassuring. Then her friend (Kira Silverman) read her fortune which said something like, “You will be murdered tonight.” In a furor she called over the waitress, read her the fortune, and insisting on getting another cookie. Each time the one woman got a soothing and uplifting fortune while the other got a menacing premonition of certain death. The waitress was just as surprised as the couple and she stayed at the table curious to hear each reading of the fortunes.

If your fortune is so set in stone then it must be true, and perhaps there would be now way to escape your fate. The woman who had been getting the reassuring fortunes began to believe that there might just be a reason her friend might need to be murdered. She picked a sharp knife off the table and questioned her friend about possible affairs as she paced around the table. A mistake by the waitress changed the fortunes of this distressed couple.

A guest performer, (Mathew Stephens) followed with a monologue and then a reenactment of a planned murder of Batman (Vex Batchelder). Outlandish humor was added by Harlequin (Michelle Papaycik) playing a weird tune on a kazoo. Her amazing costume and acting stole the scene.

The final play was, Played for A Sap by Rex McGregor directed by Jade Roberts. In it, a couple having an affair tried to extort money from the woman’s husband. The show featured murder, money and mayhem with affections that turned on a dime. A guy sat in front of me wearing a cowboy hat, so I really didn’t see anything house left for the entire final show, but I was busy painting anyway. With only 10 minutes remaining, I had to rush. By the end of the night, every seat in the driveway was full.

This 10 Minute Tuesday at Turpin Garage Theater is such a fun concept. I was laughing out loud at very twist and turn. When you have a theater full of actors and supporters, you are in for some fun and enthusiastic audience reactions.

Here is a full listing of upcoming productions of 10 Minute Tuesdays.

March 3, 2020        Ladies Night

April 7, 2020          Shakespeare

May 5, 2020           Shows about Show Biz

June 2, 2020           TMT with Pride

July 7, 2020            Christmas in July

August 4, 2020       Come Away with TMT

September 1, 2020  Get Back to Hogwarts

October 6, 2020      Spooky Sendoff

Virgo’s Narcissa Beach Party

Local actress, Michelle Papaycik, hosted a mermaid-themed photo shoot party at Driftwood Boneyard  (Big Talbot Island, Jacksonville Fl). Photographers and beach lovers were encouraged to spend as long as they wanted taking pictures and soaking up the sun. Usually, photo shoots are a challenge to sketch since models vogue quickly for the camera and then change poses incessantly. I figured that a mermaid might not move around quite as much on the beach since the large tail might slow her down.

Half way on my drive to the beach I got a message that the main contingent of people going were running late. I had seen pictures of the beach and decided it was worth the trip just to take the time to sketch the driftwood beach. I brought along a tent to keep myself out of the sun while I worked. There was a nice long sandy trail that lead down to the beach, and once there it really felt like another world. All the plentiful driftwood created wonderful patterns against the sand.

I figured I could beach a few mermaids in my sketch once hey washed ashore. Unfortunately, mermaids never appeared. But I had a decent sketch and decided to get back on the road to Orlando. My passenger side mirror had been demolished by a garbage can, so I was a bit blind when people passed me on the passenger side. So, on the drive I stayed in the right hand lane and just accepted that I might need to slow down on occasion as cars entered and exited from the highway. I’ve since fixed the mirror which is wedged in with an eraser. This amazing beach was well worth the visit.

Patron’s Pick for Murder at Fringe

Mallory Sabetodos Vance produced Patron’s Pick for Murder which was a truly interactive “who done it” at the 2018 Fringe Festival. Patrons met outside the Firehouse Museum behind the Shakes and it was in this pre-show quay that the cast mingled with patrons. The mystery was already a foot. Michelle Papaycik played the part of an actress in a show called “Michelle and Lars go to Mars“. This was clearly a spoof of some of the Fringe’s worst possible shows. Rabid fringe fans mingled with actresses and self appointed theater critics. A simple 2 by 4 door frame was the entrance to the main staging area up on a slight hill under a huge live oak tree. I focused my attention on the line of patrons as they mingled with the cast.

Bikini Katie was the guest star for this press preview and she played up the part of being a true diva. A sip from her water bottle resulted in her immediate demise from poison. After this the patrons could interact with the cast asking questions to try and surmise who had killed Katie. Strangely enough you could even ask the corpse for her thoughts, which is a real luxury for a detective to have. As I was sketching, Pam Schwartz was working the crime scene to try and solve the mystery. She is a born detective, but she was not able to solve this crime. The final motive when reveled was quite simple, but I will keep it to myself should you ever have a chance to experience this show for yourself. The show becomes more exciting when you ask the right people the right questions. You would get out of the show what you put into it.