ROOTED IN TRADITION
CREATING FRESH WORKS
Welcome to my site.
ROOTED IN TRADITION
CREATING FRESH WORKS
ROOTED IN TRADITION
CREATING FRESH WORKS
ROOTED IN TRADITION
CREATING FRESH WORKS
WALTER THINNES is an emerging playwright whose thirty plus plays have received more than 130 productions, readings, or awards in 26 states, and around the world, including The Kennedy Center, Eugene O’Neill Theatre Conference, and several Off-Off-Off-Broadway Theaters. He is currently located in Central Florida and you can find some of his scripts at www.newplayexchange.org.
He is the recipient of the Colonial Players’ Promising Playwright Award, Annapolis, MD; Theatre Oxford L.W. Thomas Award, Oxford MS; Appalachian New Play Festival Judge’s Choice Award, Athens, OH; winner of the Centre-Stage New Play Festival in Greenville, SC; and most recently the winner of the Appalacchian Playwriting Festival by the Parkway Playouse in Burnsville, NC.
While I refer to my current look as 'deranged prospector come in from the hills,' of course the most frequent inquiry I get is whether or not I am Santa Claus. I tell the young 'un that, no, but I am Santa's nephew. After a quick exchange about whether the tyke has an uncle of their own, they get the concept. I explain that while the gift thing is a family enterprise we all pitch in to help with, Santa does all the deliveries and makes all the decisions. While I can put in a good word for them (they have been good, haven't they?) it is their parents who are in direct contact with the big man and that they had better be good, just in case. The parents are always grateful for the encounter. There you have the Legend of Walter Claus!
My full length play BLOODLETTING IN THESE HILLS received two excellent public readings at the Appalachian Playwriting Festival by the Parkway Playhouse in Burnsville, North Carolina. The director was Erika Tyner and it enjoyed the exceptional talents of Alan Steele, Tom Harrison, Lilly Bartleson, Austin Dakota Whitehead, Olivia Woodford, and Addison Amos.
Festival judges and audiences selected BLOODLETTING IN THESE HILLS as winner of the festival. The prize is a fully mounted production of the script in their 2025 summer season. Show dates are August 1-3 and 8-10. After visiting the festival I can highly recommend the lovely town of Burnsville, but lodging is at a premium, so make your reservations soon!
I was honored and thrilled to win the Second Annual Appalachian Playwriting Festival by the Parkway Playhouse in Burnsville, North Carolina. I spent a lovely week there and fell in love with the charming village in the lovely mountains. I left to return to Florida where a hurricane was threatening near where I live.
Little could I imagine that the hurricane would bypass my home and ravage the little town I had fallen in love with. Because of road closures and cell communication interruptions, information is limited and I am anxious to hear how the people there are faring. Luckily they are resilient folk. Hopefully all are well.
After a week of silence I got the first words from Burnsville, North Carolina after Hurricane Helene ravished Southern Appalachia. I just got a quick missive assuring all that the theater survived the storm and the staff was well though the region is suffering. A relief but more to come.
The Parkway Playhouse in Burnsville, North Carolina will perform my play August 1-10, 2025. (Image is from the winning reading at the Appalachian Playwriting Festival in September 2024). This will be the third subscription offering of their 2025 summer season.
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My full-length play BLOODLETTING IN THESE HILLS was the winner of the Appalachian Playwriting Festival in 2024. It will receive a fully mounted production as the third play of the 2025 Season of the Parkway Playhouse in Burnsville, NC. Performance dates are August 1-3 and 8-10, 2025. More details to follow as they become available.
My new short play LEAVE ME A MESSAGE was featured by THE PULP STAGE in Portland, Oregon on April 1, 2024 in a live internet reading. It was part of their Pulp Factor Showcase and was directed by Jonathan Hernandez and read by Artistic Director John Marks, Colleen Socha and Katie Mortemore. The reading is now on Apple Podcasts, Audible and Spotify. Search for 'The Pulp Podcast' and 'Leave Me a Message.'
THEATER MAKERS LABS of Middletown CT produced my short play HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEONARD as part of their Crappy Valentines Festival on February 17, 2024 at Keeney Memorial Cultural Center in Wethersfield, CT.
The Rover Dramawerks theatre in Plano, TX selected my short play "myspacefacebook.com" as a semi-finalist for their 2024 comedy performance.
My short play HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEONARD was selected as a Semi-Finalist for the 2024 Off Broad Street Short Play Festival in Augusta GA.
My short play HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEONARD has received quite a number of productions recently.
REBOUND PRODUCTIONS performed the play as a part of their New Writing Showcase on July 26, 2023 featuring Clarisse Encontre and Christina Raise at the HEN & CHICKENS THEATRE, LONDON, UK .
It was presented in the Seventeenth Annual Ten Minute Play Festival at the ODYSSEY THEATRE in SARASOTA FLORIDA in June 2022. It was directed by Amanda Schlachter and featured Jenny Aldrich Walker and Julee Breehne.
BARRINGTON STAGE in PITTSTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS presented a streaming production of it as part of their Tenth Annual 10x10 Festival in March 2021.
It was also selected as a Semi-Finalist in the OFF BROAD STREET SHORT PLAY FESTIVAL in AUGUSTA GA
My recent full length play THE RELUCTANT PROPHET received an excellent staged reading as part of the Talkback Tuesday Series at the Polaris North Theatre Co-operative in NEW YORK, NEW YORK on May 23, 2023. It was both well received and provided valuable feedback that further developed the script. It featured John L. Payne, Meliora Dockery, Francis Parkman, Leslie Lynn Meeker, Jen Nolan and Sophie Larin.
My short play CELEBRITY DIVORCE was performed by the PLAYWRIGHTS ROUND TABLE OF ORLANDO, FLORIDA as part of their LAUNCH Festival in March, 2022. It was directed by Dev Zebra, and featured Russell R. Trahan, Anthony Marando and Kaley Redfield. It was also a finalist in the Short+Sweet Play Festival in the Dubai, United Emirates as well as their Festival in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
My short play 2020 - A PERFECT YEAR FOR MAGICAL THINKING received a streamed production in the Old Library Theatre's 10th Annual One Act Play Festival in FAIR LAWN, NEW JERSEY on February 2021. It was also performed by STAGE DOOR PRODUCTIONS as part of their 14th Annual One Act Festival in Fredericksburg VA in January 2022. It was selected and recorded by student Lanee Stiver for Senior Directing Credit at JOHN BROWN UNIVERSITY in SILOAM SPRINGS, ARKANSAS in April 2022.
My short play AT THE DINER WITH DAD (licensed by ART AGE Publications - Senior Theater Resources) was performed in GAINESVILLE FLORIDA in February 2021.
Walter Thinnes, Playwright
you can also check out my (silly) blog at - www.walterthinnes.blog
Copyright © 2010 - 2024 Walter Thinnes, Playwright - All Rights Reserved.
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