Laois Open Door Theatre are delighted to be back in Thomastown for the third year in a row. This year they will present Play On by Rick Abbott. This hilarious love letter to amateur drama, follows a plucky community theatre group rehearsing an original murder mystery Murder Most Foul by a first time author. In essence, a play within a play, hence the title Play On. It is a farcical look at the trials and tribulations, the ecstasy and the heartbreak of the final few days before Murder Most Foul is presented to the public. Added to the mayhem is the fact that the author insists on more plot changes as opening night looms. What could possibly go wrong on the night?
One plucky community theatre is about to produce a show called Murder Most Foul, a new ‘murder mystery play’ with the same title as an Agatha Christie novel but with no relation whatsoever. The director/theatre manager, Gerry, thought producing the play was a good idea since the inexperienced playwright has agreed to let the company perform the show for no charge. Gerry, however, had no idea what disasters awaited her: the show is hilariously amateur, the ‘murder mystery’ plot doesn’t really have a murder, and to top it off the playwright keeps changing the story and script only two days from its premiere! It doesn’t help that the cast is disgruntled, and the playwright accidentally deletes the entire sound effect board. All of the disasters come to fruition in Act III when the company performs the actual show with hilarious mishaps at every turn. Play On is an hilarious love letter to community theatre.
Rick Abbot
John Michael Sharkey (May 6 1931 – September 28 1992) was an American writer who published over eighty plays, many under pen names. Rick Abbot is one of several pen names. 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 Creative Writing and taught school from 1953 to 1955. In mid-1955, Mr. Sharkey enlisted in the Army, serving 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 before serving as editor of the Allstate Insurance Company Magazine 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 died of cancer on September 28, 1992.
To find out more come and see ‘Open Door’ in Thomastown Community Centre on Friday 21st March at 8pm.
