Local Writers Given New Parts to Play

From Piccolo Spoleto to the FringeNYC festival in New York, playwrights Thomas and Judy Heath recently made their name in national theater with the success of their co-written play, Perfectly Normel People, which just finished a run at Threshold Repertory Theatre in downtown Charleston, where the West Ashley couple are Playwrights-in-Residence for 2014.
“We’ve been nomadic for a few years working with various theater companies around Charleston. Then one day, Pamela Galle [Artistic Director for Threshold Repertory Theatre] asked us to lunch and asked if we wanted a home,” says Thomas Heath, smiling.
“I am so excited to have playwrights-in-residence at Threshold and consider it part of our theatre’s mission to give a home to Charleston-based writers and be an incubator for new work. Thomas and Judy are very successful playwrights in all manner of success. We are privileged to have them at the helm of this ambitious new addition to our theatre,” says Galle.
Along with the opportunity to produce two of their shows at the theatre over the course of the year, the Heath’s will also present staged readings of their new works, allowing the audience not only to preview their upcoming shows but to also become involved in the creative process of play writing.
And the Heath’s aren’t stopping at the stage. As Playwrights-in-Residence, the couple also recently launched a new Young Playwrights Program at the theatre to help students learn the art of writing for the stage.
“High schools do a great job with performing, but there really aren’t that many programs for writing for theater. It’s kind of a lost art form and, with the help of several guest playwrights, we hope to bring it back,” says Thomas Heath.
 
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.thresholdrep.org or call 843-277-2172. Threshold Repertory Theatre is located at 84 1/2 Society Street in downtown Charleston. Additionally, the first production of Perfectly Normel People will launch on March 20 and run through March 30 at the theatre.