Bright Theatre Festival This Weekend In East Lyme

EAST LYME, CT — From Bright Theatre Festival: Project Bright is a local organization, founded in 2015, that works to educate about, bring attention to, and raise money for suicide prevention. Since 2015, the organization has held a music festival each summer that featured local musicians and the opportunity to connect with different agencies and vendors from around the region that focus on mental and physical health and wellness. This festival has been a huge success over the years, raising thousands of dollars for the Brian Dagle Foundation and bringing a day of joy, peace, and company to hundreds of attendees with each passing year.

In 2017, Project Bright launched a new event: the Bright Theatre Festival, which will return for its second year in August, 2018. The festival brings together writers, directors, and actors for a period of 24 hours to create, from scratch, and rehearse one-act plays. Seven plays will be created with the help of over 30 artists who are joining us from locations across the United States, including, but not limited to, East Lyme, Waterford, New London, Springfield MA, Boston, New York City, and Washington D.C.. Each artist participates on a volunteer basis, donating their time and energy to further Project Bright’s mission.

Keeping with the traditions established last year, writers will be given 12 hours starting at 7pm on Friday, August 3rd, to construct an original play for the cast of actors for which they have been assigned to write. Each play produced takes on its own plot, topics, and style, but are woven together by two common themes: each play must include a specific line and at least three out of five specific props, each of which are told to the actors only when they begin writing at the start of the festival. Directors and actors then take the next 12 hours to run lines, rehearse their scenes, and grow in their roles. The festival will culminate in a performance of each of these one-act plays in my Mary Broderick Auditorium at East Lyme High School at 7pm on Saturday, August 4, 2018. The event is open to the public, and a five dollar donation is suggested at the door. All are encouraged to attend this fabulous show.

Project Bright was founded in the wake of tragedies that have struck East Lyme, Waterford, and all surrounding communities. Organizers Sara and Josh Kelly were both friends with Stirling Danskin, a young lover of theatre from Waterford whose life was lost to suicide in April, 2012. The two dedicate the festival to him, all others that have been lost to suicide in our community, and all those who have been affected by that loss. By coming together to have an open conversation about mental wellness, showing mutual support for each other, and by exploring various facets of the human experience through theatre and art, they hope that the Bright Theatre Festival will continue to be a positive environment for all members of the community to participate in and attend.

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