ITCH

media release: Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts looks forward to the fourth year of the Alley Stage Reading Series. This season’s playwrights include Cass Erickson of Saint Paul, and Fran Zell and DC Cathro, both of Chicago, with talented actors from Mineral Point to Madison. 

Under the artistic direction of playwright Marcia Jablonski, the Alley Stage Reading Series highlights the voices of Midwestern writers, focusing on the creative ecosystem of the Driftless Area, and provides a unique opportunity for playwrights to share their works-in-progress and receive valuable feedback with a staged reading and talkback session at the intimate outdoor theater Alley Stage. Besides being fun to watch, a staged reading is an important way a playwright can get important feedback from an audience and determine what their next steps are with the script. This helps Shake Rag Alley fulfill a key part of its mission: cultivating the creativity that thrives in our rural community. More information at https://shakeragalley.org/alley-stage/

October 12: ITCH by DC Cathro of Chicago

Richard comes home to his mother, his twin, and their new boarder after years of being institutionalized for his never-ending itch.

DC Cathro is a Chicago-based playwright, actor, and director from the Washington DC metropolitan area. His musical Till, written with award-winning composer Leo Schwartz, was one of three winners in the 2016 Main Street Musicals Festival, selected by Gregory Mosher, and was also accepted into the 2019 New York Musical Festival (NYMF). The Book of Merman, another musical written with Leo Schwartz, enjoyed a five-month run Off-Broadway. In 2014, he became the only playwright to have two shows in the Pride Films and Plays Festival in Chicago, IL; Pen, A Musical (with Schwartz) and the comedy Family Holiday. DC’s works have been read at theaters and festivals across the U.S. and U.K., including The William Inge Festival in Independence, Kansas, The Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and St. Luke’s Theatre, Off-Broadway in New York City.