I’m a busy bee this weekend, appearing in two “Page to Stage” pre-
sentations at the Kennedy Center. For those that aren’t acquainted with this annual festival, it’s a weekend of free readings, open rehearsals and discussions of new plays and musicals.

On Saturday at 2 PM at the Terrace Theatre, I’ll be appearing in Tom to Tenn, a reading of the first act of a musical dealing with the life of playwright Tennessee Williams. Book and lyrics are by Shelley Herman Gillon and Harriet McFaul Pilger, with music by Paul D. Leavitt. The cast includes Tim Tourbin, Sherri Edelen, Dana Krueger, Andy Brownstein, Rob McQuay, Caren Anton and Clay Steakley, and is directd by Dorothy Neumann. The reading is presented by members of the Women’s Work Writers Group and is free.

On Monday at 5 PM in the Theatre Lab, I’ll be stuffing doughnuts (well, not really) as the title character in The Tragedy of Mary Lou Skatonda, a play in progress by Callie Kimball and directed by Allison Arkell Stockman. It’s a comedy about murder, genocide, and mother-daughter angst. Mary Lou Skatonda, one of the top commanders in a militaristic organization seeking to establish a more liberal world, falls into the hands of a seductive demon and his beastly minion, a homesick parakeet. In the not-too-distant future, the fate of the free world will be decided by a jacked-up video game. The cast list is on the ‘keet-decorated show postcard to the left; it’s presented under the auspices of Constellation Theatre and again, it’s free.

Seriously, what better way to spend the Labor Day weekend?