Sound Stage presents:
7-Up: An Evening of Eclectic One-Act Plays
Directed by Catherine Gillet
May 20, 2025
7-Up: An Evening of Eclectic One-Act Plays by award winning and published playwrights will be performed at Tryon Fine Arts Center’s Pavilion on Tuesday, May 20th at 7pm for one night only. These staged readings will have theatrical elements of music and lighting. Tickets are $15.
Director Catherine Gillet (who has two original works in this show), said: “I am very excited about directing these amazing actors for this evening of theater. It seemed like a good time for Shakespeare & Friends to offer a bit of respite from the mind-numbing madness of the daily news.“
The seven plays, chosen for this evening, attempt to address the current climate of anxious absurdity with humor and grace. No doubt, the audience will find something in each of them that validates and resonates.
Chase Wolfe, one of tonight’s many talented actors, also starred in the musical “The Last 5 Years” produced by Shakespeare & Friends in the Pavilion last June. Wolfe, who is currently based in NYC, will be coming to Tryon to perform in the 7-up plays. The other actors who need no introduction to local theater lovers are Darlene Cah, Marianne Carruth, Lori Corda, Hillary Fleming, Luke Laughter, Michelle Newman, Mark Sawyer, and a couple of surprise guests TBA.
About the Plays
Short Life of Trouble (or True Dylan) by Sam Shepard: Features 2 characters - Sam and Bob. It is a dramatized short ‘interview’ between Sam Shepard and Bob Dylan, which focuses on Dylan’s early days in New York, his friendship with Woody Guthrie and what constitutes “truth”. Shepard and Dylan were friends, having met on the Rolling Thunder Tour, so this play has been touted as an actual, verbatim conversation.
Candlelight, by Cate Allen: a Gen X personal assistant comically tries to explain the difference between living in reality vs living inside her iPhone, to her employer’s Gen Alpha daughter.
Szinhaz, by Itamar Moses - The famous Middle Eastern Theater Director, Istvan Zoltan Andras is doing a public interview. He doesn’t speak any English but, luckily, he has his trusty translator, Marie. Istvan eagerly tackles questions about his career and creative outlook, and Marie communicates them to the audience in her own broken English. But when the interview takes a strangely personal turn, the questions break down into hilarious misunderstandings.
Deliverance, by Catherine Gillet – When an eccentric young woman surreptitiously arrives uninvited to an exclusive Hamptons beach house party, one of the guests’ curiosity unleashes a sparkling chemistry.
Intermission, by Will Eno – Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, Eno, has created a tongue-in-cheek master work in this short play where 2 couples chat with each other during, by all accounts, a dreadful play’s intermission. Deeply touching and funny, Eno dares the audience to reflect on why theater has meaning.
My Mother and Marilyn Monroe, by Catherine Gillet – Set in Miami, an untethered woman who fancies herself a photographer, sends random, anonymous letters to strangers in a misguided belief that these missives will help change people’s lives. Enter a Marilyn Monroe impersonator who could use more than a little change, a full moon, and a writer who bears witness to it all, in this play about intention, purpose and the luck of the genetic draw.
The Freelancers, by Lucy Kirkwood – Reality is not what it seems in this quirky, magical play. Set in London, a young woman returns home to an apartment which has been completely cleared out by her ex-boyfriend. He has even taken the roof, which leaves her with an envious view of the sky. Following a visit from 3 unusual people with questionable motives, she is left alone with one. A strange peace ensues.