The members of the Lyric Repertory Company will stage readings of two one-act plays by up-and-coming playwright M.K. Wessel at 7:30 in the Black Box Theatre on Wednesday, July 12 as part of the local troupe’s InterACT series.
LOGAN – The second “InterACT” show in the ongoing 2023 Lyric Repertory season will be a double-hitter of two plays by up-and-coming playwright M.K. Wessel.
Those stage readings will feature Wessel’s plays Thank You for Knowing Me and The Red Claw.
Now in its fourth season, the “InterACT” series presents a varied collection of works in progress, play readings and one-man/woman shows while giving audience members an opportunity to talk back to their creators.
Malia Wessel is a recent graduate of the University of East Anglia in England, according to Lyric artistic director Richie Call.
They (preferred pronoun) studied playwriting, creative writing and script writing there and also earned a master’s degree in theatre directing.
Wessel’s first play was Tony the Fantastic Fireman! LIVE: One Show Only. It was produced at the University of Hawaii – Mānoa and was nominated for the John Cauble Award for Outstanding One-Act Play at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.
Their second one-act, The Father, is being published in the “Journal of Arts and Letters.”
The 2023 InterACT series will lead off on July 3 with the satiric one-woman show I Was Supposed to Be Meghan Markle … But My Anxiety Disorder Got in the Way by Leila Hernandez.
Wessel’s one-act plays will follow on July 12.
Thank You For Knowing Me is a bittersweet drama about a relationship that isn’t working, but each person is better for having known the other.
The reading will feature Utah State theatre arts students Ollie Chieppa, Jonah Newton and Ariana Whatcott.
Call says that the second show, The Red Claw, is an update of a play that Wessel wrote for a 24-hour play festival.
It’s a boisterous parody of film noir flicks filled with audience asides, Christmas cheer and ridiculous detective work.
The reading will feature Equity actress Lisa Shoell and student performers Ollie Chieppa, Andrew Moody, Jonah Newton, Jack Carter Roberts, Preston Rowland, Sumner Jones Shoell and Ariana Whatcott.
Call suggests that interested audience members stick around after the Wessel plays to share their thoughts, feedback and “interact” with the director and actors.
The subject matter of the third “InterACT” show on July 18 is still evolving, according to Call.
All of the upcoming “InterACT” shows will be directed by Yesenia Garcia Herrington and presented in the intimate Black Box Theatre located in the Chase Fine Arts Center on the USU campus.