SPF 12: Earworm
Five people have five different reactions to a punk rock breakup song. Now the Song wants to know why.
Development
Reading – 2019 Campfire Theatre Festival
Workshop Production – 2019 Tesseract Theatre Festival of New Plays
Reading – Tesseract Theatre, September 2018
Shualee Cook writes plays and musicals as a way of asking questions and figuring out what she thinks of some of the world’s proposed answers. She received a 2020 RAC Artist Fellowship, is the winner of a 2019 Parity Commission, and has been a fellow of the Confluence Regional Writers’ Project. Productions, readings and workshops include Choleramusik (St. Louis Shakespeare Festival), And Certain Women (St. Louis Shakespeare Festival) Earworm (Tesseract Theatre, Campfire Theatre Festival), Cercle Hermaphroditos (Parity Productions, Stage Left Theatre Summer Reading, Queer Village Reading Series), An Invitation Out (Mustard Seed Theatre, Quantum Dragon Theatre, Benchmark Theatre Fever Dream Festival), and Sunset Artists of the American West,” (2016 Chicago New Work Festival, About Face Theatre). She has been a finalist for the 2019 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, and two-time finalist for the Goodman Theatre Playwrights Unit.
Ken Sawyer is an award-winning director based in Los Angeles, California. His work has spanned a wide range of venues with projects that include musicals, plays, experimental theatre, concerts and special events. Ken graduated from New York’s prestigious The Juilliard School. Directing highlights include collaborating with Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner in re-imagining THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE for a full cast, with Emmy Award winner Paris Barclay developing the new musical ONE RED FLOWER with Leslie Odem Jr, Katy Mixon, Hunter Parish, and Maureen Mcgovern, with rock icons Charlotte Caffey (the GoGos) and Anna Waronker (That Dog) on LOVELACE: THE ROCK OPERA, with Stephen Schwartz and David Stern on the development of SNAPSHOTS, and with Colin Escott on development of the Broadway hit MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET. His collaboration with Jon Imparato and the Los Angeles LGBT Center further built his reputation as a lover of theater that not only entertains, but also tackles thought provoking issues.His concert work includes helming star studded events with Amber Riley, Jane Lynch, Matthew Morrison, Adam Pascal, and Chita Rivera among others. For more info visit: www.kensawyerdirector.com
“Earworm”
The Song – Joh Chase
Sasha – Charlotte Gulezian
Jory – Marian Gonzalez
Trevor – Samuel Martin Lewis*
Kess – Shoniqua Shandai
Elise – Kristina Johnson
Stage Directions – Katharine Lee McEwan*
*Road Company Member