by Audrey Liebross

 By now, most theatregoers in the Coachella Valley are aware that Script2Stage2Screen (S2S2S), a company sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert, will close at the end of the season. I, for one, am sorry to see the company, which specializes in readings of new scripts, fold. Their presence allows new works to be tested out in staged readings before playwrights try to find stages for full productions.

Last month’s reading, Life, Love, and the Pursuit, by Shelley Chester, a dramedy about two very nice, religious people, was, as usual, well-presented. The acting by the whole ensemble and the directing (by Don Ciluffo) were terrific, as were the sets, projections, and sound. The script included an extraodinary plot twist at the end of Act I that I never saw coming. Warning: The next paragraphs contain major spoilers.

Maxine (Jan Briggs), a 67-year-old widow, meets Ryan (Paul MacKey), 55, a divorced writer dating a much younger, money-grubbing woman (Phylicia Mason). Ryan and Maxine fall in love and Ryan light-heartedly reveals that he is blind, a fact that he assumes Maxine knew. However, Maxine, upset that Ryan did not tell her before, leaves him. Good news: The ending is happy.

I would recommend making Ryan legally blind, but able to see some shapes and motion. That would make it more likely that he’d fall for a shallow glamour girl, and that someone could know him for several months without guessing that he cannot see. I also suggest that Ms. Chester cut down on the number of references to the characters’ Christian beliefs; once she has established that they are devout, it becomes repetitive for the dialogue to keep emphasizing their Christianity. Nonetheless, I believe that Ms. Chester has written a script that is both funny and moving. Audiences are likely to enjoy the play, especially with a cast as accomplished as these actors.

This month’s presentation is the Young Playwright Celebration, which consists of two one-act plays by Brooklyn Rutledge, and directed by Deborah Harmon. Ms. Rutledge is seventeen years old, and a student at Paloma Valley High School. As a fifteen-year-old freshman, in 2022, she won first prize in the Palm Springs Young Playwright Festival, with her entry, Main Character, which S2S2S features this month. The other reading for the evening is The Search for Snowflake.

Main Character revolves around Cass as she peacefully enjoys her junior year. She figures there's nothing special about her, and she’s not a “main character.” But when events put her on center stage, she’s suddenly a big part of the story. The second reading,The Search for Snowflake, relates the tale of Catarina, a young woman who adores her cat. When Catarina — Cat for short — first moved out on her own she was terrified, but she knew that she would be ok because she had her beloved cat Snowflake with her. However, when Snowflake gets lost, Catarina has to deal with crazy cat ladies, strict shelters, tired workers, and confused friends all on her own, while she goes on The Search for Snowflake.

The two one-act plays feature performers familiar to audiences in the Coachella Valley. Main Character includes Christine Tringali Nunes, Heather Joy, Joyanne Tracy, Zachary Furtado, Jessica Lenz, and Yo Younger. The Search for Snowflake features Christine Tringali Nunes, Yo Younger, Hal O’Connell, Sean Timothy Brown, Melanie Blue, Dana Adkins, and Yo Younger.

For those who want to learn more about the talented young playwright, here is a link to Deborah Harmon’s interview with Brooklyn after the latter’s win in the Palm Springs Young Playwrights Festival two years ago: https://galleries.vidflow.co/psypf2022.

Script2Stage2Screen is the performing arts project of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert (UUCOD), 72425 Via Vail in Rancho Mirage. Performances are at UUCOD on Friday, April 19 and Saturday, April 20, 2024, at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $15 cash or check at the door, or they may be purchased via PayPal on the website: www.script2stage2screen.com. Reservations can be made at script2stage2screen@gmail.com.

The rest of S2S2S’s season consists of:

Southlake, by Mike Byham (May 24-25, 2024). We peek in on the life-defining moments of Randall Scott – a Vietnam veteran who with his young, pregnant wife Rose settled into the quiet farming suburb of Southlake, Texas in the early 1970’s. Told through scenes that alternate between the early 70’s and 2022, it’s a story of love, regret, change and redemption. And there’s a ghost.

Engagement Rules, by Rich Orloff (June 21-22, 2024). This comedy follows the intertwined lives of two couples who have become good friends despite (or because of) their multi-decade age gap. Both couples face problems at the intersection of sexuality and spirituality, forcing everyone to face questions that none of them can answer easily.