Philip Dawkins and NEW PLAYS FROM THE HEARTLAND Starting Tomorrow

The Mike Dobbins Memorial New Plays from the Heartland project -- combining a one-act playwriting contest with staged readings and a master class for the winning playwrights as well as a public forum to allow the prominent playwright who selected the winners to interact with the Bloomington-Normal community -- is back this week at Heartland Theatre.

The festivities begin tomorrow night at 7:30 pm when Philip Dawkins, this year's playwright in residence, offers his remarks and takes questions on the art of playwriting in a forum that is free and open to the public. You may remember Dawkins' name from the play Failure: A Love Story, a musical tragicomedy in verse performed at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival in 2013 after a successful run at Chicago's Victory Gardens Theater. Dawkins is also the author of Miss Marx: Or the Involuntary Side Effect of Living (Strawdog Theatre -- Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Work), The Happiest Place on Earth (Side Show Theatre/Greenhouse Theater Center), Le Switch (About Face Theatre, The Jungle), Charm (Northlight Theatre), The Homosexuals (About Face Theater) and the musical adaptation of Dr. Seuss’s The Sneetches with composer David Mallamud (Children’s Theater Company, Minneapolis). His lyrical, whimsical style makes him a unique voice in American theater.

The three winning New Plays from the Heartland will be performed as staged readings beginning at 7:30 pm on Friday and Saturday and 2 pm on Sunday, directed by Heartland artistic director Rhys Lovell. This year's winners are Golden Land by John Adams of Richmon Heights, Missouri; All Sewed Up by Marty Seigel of Bloomington, Illinois; and Annabelle's Last Stand by Todd Wineburner of Pontiac, Illinois. Here's what Heartland has to say about each of the plays:

GOLDEN LAND by John Adams, Richmon Heights MO
A chance meeting in New York in 1904 illustrates that the apple seldom falls far from the tree. The age-old conflict between the disenfranchised and the privileged plays out on a tenement stoop on a hot summer day.

ALL SEWED UP by Marty Seigel, Bloomington IL
Owners of a small-town business and the town manager go head to head against a high-powered corporation. The lingering smoke from an old flame can’t mask a critical flaw that will bring one side down.

ANNABELLE’S LAST STAND by Todd Wineburner, Pontiac IL
A house is not just bricks and mortar; it’s dreams and memories too. And that’s worth fighting for, as a sheriff who is reluctant to exercise his authority soon learns.

For more information on the Mike Dobbins Memorial New Plays from the Heartland, Philip Dawkins or the winning plays, you can visit Heartland's website for the full scoop. Please note that this new-play festival is made possible by the Town of Normal Harmon Arts Grant and sponsored by Paul and Sandra Harmon.

Heartland Announces Cast for Upcoming "Superior Donuts"

Tracy Letts' award-winning "Superior Donuts" is coming to Heartland Theatre in April, with Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson, associate professor at University of Illinois-Springfield, directing a cast that includes Michael Pullin, Gregory D. Hicks, Todd Wineburner, Clark Abraham, Cathy Sutliff, Marcus Smith, Holly Klass, Aric Rattan and Jay Hartzler.

The poster from Steppenwolf's "Superior Donuts"

"Superior Donuts" is a Chicago play, Letts' first set in his adopted hometown, and it premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, with Michael McKean (the Lenny half of Lenny and Squiggy from "Laverne and Shirley" and then immortalized as David St. Hubbins in "This Is Spinal Tap") and Jon Michael Hill (who stepped straight from the theater department at U of I to the Steppenwolf ensemble) in the lead roles. McKean played Arthur Przybyszewski, the owner of a neglected doughnut store in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood, while Hill created the role of Franco Wicks, a smart kid who talks his way into a job at Arthur's store. Franco has dreams of becoming the next great American poet, but he's got some bad decisions and bad connections from the past that are standing in the way. Both Arthur and Franco need to overcome the past in order to have a future, whether that future involves doughnuts or not.

The play's themes of personal growth, connection and redemption are universal, and they fit nicely within Heartland's missions "to explore the human condition through the art of theatre" and to call "attention to the experience of being human and the shared pain, joy, sorrow and celebration that it entails." There is pain, joy, sorrow and yes, even a celebration in "Superior Donuts."

For Heartland, Michael Pullin, just seen as Sterling, the ruthless stamp collector, in "Mauritius," will play Arthur, while Gregory D. Hicks, who has recently performed in "The Women of Lockerbie" at ISU and "The Mystical Willie Lynch" with ISU's Black Actors Guild, will take on the role of Franco.

Todd Wineburner, who last appeared at Heartland in Deborah Zoe Laufer's "Sirens" in November, is slated to play Max Tarasov, the friendly (and ambitious) Russian down the street, with Clark Abraham, seen in Joel Drake Johnson's "The End of the Tour" last spring, as Luther, the loan shark who has no compunctions about keeping his minions in line, with whatever means necessary.

Cathy Sutliff and Marcus Smith will play the pair of cops who hang out at Arthur's shop, often running into another patron, a lady who goes by the name of Lady, played by Holly Klass. Rounding out the cast are Aric Rattan and Jay Hartzler, playing Luther's henchman and Max's nephew respectively.

"Superior Donuts" opens at Heartland on April 12, with performances through April 29. No word yet on whether they will be offering doughnuts at intermission, but we can hope!