As chilly weather settles into Minnesota, local playwright Kira Obolensky has a wintery new musical to share. The Overcoat: A Low-Fi Musical is the first play in the Playwrights’ Center’s 2017-18 Ruth Easton New Play Series, a long-running series offering Playwrights’ Center Core Writers 20 hours of workshop time to develop a new play and giving theater fans a chance to see free public readings of the plays in progress. Readings of The Overcoat: A Low-Fi Musical will take place Monday, December 4 and Tuesday, December 5 at 7 p.m. at the Playwrights’ Center, 2301 E. Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis. Reservations are recommended and can be made at pwcenter.org.
Kira Obolensky is a beloved and celebrated playwright, especially in the Twin Cities where she is known for her collaborations with Ten Thousand Things Theater. For The Overcoat: A Low-Fi Musical, she worked with composer Brian Harnetty on a haunting and minimal score to accompany her reimagining of Nikolai Gogol’s short story “The Overcoat.” In the play, poor beleaguered Charlie Shoe needs a new coat to keep Winter away—she’s there, on the bridge, on the stair, waiting for his body and soul. Funny and tragic, this short musical wonders if empathy and love are really enough to save us from the clutches of coldness.
The workshop and readings will be directed by Seth Bockley, joined by a cast of Eric Sharp*, Katherine Fried, Thomasina Petrus*, Jennifer Baldwin Peden*, Joy Dolo, Skyler Nowinski, Craig Johnson*, and Malick Ceesay (*Member of Actors’ Equity Association).
Seward Arts & Culture 