A staged reading of playwright Peter Macklin’s A Different Time will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 23, in Illinois State University’s Kemp Recital Hall. The event is free and open to the public.
The staged reading is part of a campus residency by the playwright. Macklin will meet with School of Theatre and Dance students to discuss the art of acting and playwriting. Macklin’s visit and the staged reading are funded by the Prairie Pride Coalition through a grant from the Town of Normal Harmon Arts Grant Program.
In the play A Different Time, nuance of character, human frailties, strengths, and realizations about long held perceptions reach center stage. Although it has been over a year since the death of Les Manor’s childhood friend, Drew, his family and friends find Les increasingly erratic over the loss. Les’ wife of forty years, MJ, doesn’t know quite what to do to help her husband. Emotions reach a fever pitch when Drew’s widow, Maura, comes to town on business with her new friend Jack.
Directed by School of Theatre and Dance Assistant Professor Duane Boutté, the cast features School of Theatre and Dance Professor Kim Pereira, McLean County Museum of History Evergreen Cemetery Discovery Walk actor Kathleen Kirk, Heartland Theatre Company and Community Players actor Carol Scott, and Heartland Theatre Company actor Joe Penrod.
Macklin’s writing includes the award-winning short film, Dinner at 40, currently playing at festivals around the world. Macklin was an actor at Bard Summerscape, toured nationally and off-Broadway in Moby Dick Rehearsed, portrayed Edmund in King Lear and appeared in The Tempest (with Olympia Dukakis) at Shakespeare & Company. He has worked with The Alabama Shakespeare Festival, New Jersey Repertory, and Bristol Riverside Theater.
