Fridays & Saturdays, September 7, 8 & 14, 15 at 7:00PM
Sundays, September 9 & 16 at 2:00PM
“Oh, I so enjoy my ‘work’…!”
I’ve never had so much fun with a play in my life…! – Samuel French Review
The Theatre Company of the Ozarks and the Ozark Arts Council are pleased to present, under license from Samuel French, the Rick Abbott comedy, Play On! Performances will be the second and third weekends in September. Tickets available by clicking any “Get Tickets” link on this site or by calling (870) 391-3504. Advance Tickets are $12 Adults, $10 Seniors/Students, $8 Children; tickets purchased at the door are $15 Adults, $13 Seniors/Students, and $11 for children. For tickets to the Friday, September 14 performance, which is a benefit for House of Hope‘s Hope Cottages project, please visit House of Hope (600 E. Stephenson in Harrison) or Hudson’s Supermarket (609 N. Main St. in Harrison), at a special cost of a flat $10 regardless of age.
Play On! is the hilarious story of a theatre group trying desperately to put on a play in spite of maddening interference from a haughty author who keeps revising the script. Act I is a rehearsal of the dreadful show, Act II is the near disastrous dress rehearsal, and the final act is the actual performance, in which anything that can go wrong, does. When the author decides to give
Comedy is VERY serious business!
a speech on the state of the modern theatre during the curtain calls, the audience is treated to a madcap climax to a thoroughly hilarious romp. Even the sound effects reap their share of laughter.
Cast members and director interviewed on 726 TV show.
Cast of Characters: (parentheses is who the character plays in the play-within-a-play)
X — AGGIE MANVILLE – a stage manager and prompter.
X — GERALDINE “GERRY” DUNBAR – a community theatre director.
X — HENRY BENISH (“Lord Dudley”) – a Character Actor.
X — POLLY BENISH (“Lady Margaret”) – a Character Actress.
X — MARLA “SMITTY” SMITH (“Doris the maid”) – a supporting player.
X — SAUL WATSON (“Doctor Rex Forbes”) – a Villain.
X — BILLY CAREWE (“Stephen Sellers”) -a Juvenile.
X — VIOLET IMBRY (“Diana Lassiter”) – an Ingenue.
X — LOUISE PEARY – a sound-and-lighting-and-scenic technician.
X — PHYLLIS MONTAGUE – a novice playwright in the community.
About the Playwright
Rick Abbot is one of several pen names for prolific playwright Jack Sharkey (1931-1992). Mr. Sharkey was born on May 6, 1931 in Chicago, Illinois. He began writing when he was 10 years old. He graduated from college with a BA in the Creative Writing Field of the English major. After that, he taught school for two years from 1953 to 1955. In mid-1955, Mr. Sharkey enlisted in the Army. He served at Sandia Base, New Mexico as a Special Services worker. He wrote, produced, and directed one show per month for the Enlisted Men’s Club. In 1958, Mr. Sharkey went to New York to begin a full-time freelance writing career. He wrote Science Fiction stories and novels, humor articles, and mystery novels. In 1961, he returned to Chicago where he worked as joke editor for Playboy Magazine and then was Editor of the Allstate Insurance Company Magazine for 11 years from 1964-75. Mr. Sharkey wrote his first stage comedy in 1965. At the end of 1975, he went exclusively into playwriting, which he continued until a few months before his death. He has 83 published plays written under his own name and four others – Rick Abbot, Monk Ferris, Mark Chandler, and Mike Johnson. Mike Johnson wrote only stage thrillers. All the other plays are comedies and/or musicals. The plays are performed all around the world. Mr. Sharkey passed away on September 28, 1992 after a bout with cancer.
Performances of Play On! will be Fridays & Saturdays, September 7, 8 & 14, 15 at 7:00PM and Sundays, September 9 & 16 at 7:00PM.Tickets available by clicking any “Get Tickets” link on this site or by calling (870) 391-3504. Advance Tickets are $12 Adults, $10 Seniors/Students, $8 Children; tickets purchased at the door are $15 Adults, $13 Seniors/Students, and $11 for children. For tickets to the Friday, September 14 performance, which is a benefit for House of Hope‘s Hope Cottages project, please visit House of Hope (600 E. Stephenson in Harrison) or Hudson’s Supermarket (609 N. Main St. in Harrison), at a special cost of a flat $10 regardless of age.
two years from 1953 to 1955. In mid-1955, Mr. Sharkey enlisted in the Army. He served at Sandia Base, New Mexico as a Special Services worker. He wrote, produced, and directed one show per month for the Enlisted Men’s Club. In 1958, Mr. Sharkey went to New York to begin a full-time freelance writing career. He wrote Science Fiction stories and novels, humor articles, and mystery novels. In 1961, he returned to Chicago where he worked as joke editor for Playboy Magazine and then was Editor of the Allstate Insurance Company Magazine for 11 years from 1964-75. Mr. Sharkey wrote his first stage comedy in 1965. At the end of 1975, he went exclusively into playwriting, which he continued until a few months before his death. He has 83 published plays written under his own name and four others – Rick Abbot, Monk Ferris, Mark Chandler, and Mike Johnson. Mike Johnson wrote only stage thrillers. All the other plays are comedies and/or musicals. The plays are performed all around the world. Mr. Sharkey passed away on September 28, 1992 after a bout with cancer.
