STURGEON BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – Third Avenue PlayWorks will present the environmentally minded drama “Birds of North America” starting with a pay-what-you-will preview Oct. 2. Info: thirdavenueplayhouse.org.
Performances continue with a preview at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 5, with the opening performance at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 6. The run continues to Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays.
“Birds of North America” is by Los Angeles-based playwright and screenwriter Anna Ouyang Moench.
In association with the production, the theater will host a Door County environmental round table at 7 p.m. Oct. 4, facilitated by Jacob Janssen. Representatives from environmental organizations in the region will discuss the state of environmental advocacy and activism in Door County. “Birds of North America” draws its artistic inspiration from the experience of concerns about climate change.
Snapshot: John (C. Michael Wright) and his daughter Caitlyn (Dekyi Ronge) are birders. As they scan the skies over their backyard in suburban Maryland looking for elusive birds, years go by. Relationships begin and end. Children grow up and parents age. The climate and the world change in small and vast ways. The play takes a close look at the relationship of a father and daughter over the course of a decade as they struggle to understand the parts of one another that defy understanding.
Directing is Jacob Janssen, artistic director of Third Avenue PlayWorks.
C. Michael Wright has acted professionally for 45 years. He has appeared in such regional theaters as American Players Theatre, Seattle Rep, Guthrie Theater, Milwaukee Rep, Skylight Music Theatre, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Barter Theatre, StageWest, Berkshire Theatre Festival, GeVa Theatre, Riverside Shakespeare Company,and McCarter Theatre.
Years ago, he played Hally in “Master Harold… and the boys” on Broadway, in Israel and in the national tour.
Wright’s most recent performances have been at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, where he served as producing artistic director for 15 years.
Since moving to Wisconsin in 1988, he has directed more than 100 productions. In 2009, he was honored with an “Artist of the Year” award by the City of Milwaukee Arts Board.
A relatively new resident of Sturgeon Bay, Wright serves on the board of Third Avenue PlayWorks.
Dekyi Ronge, was born in Canada of Tibetan and American parentage. She grew up in California. A graduate of University of California at Berkeley, Ronge acted in the Bay Area and Los Angeles with such companies as Pacific Repertory, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Kingsmen Shakespeare Company, Theatre of Note and A Noise Within.
Her journey took her to Chicago where she master of fine arts in acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University.
She has acted with such companies as Pacific Repertory Theater, Kingsmen Shakespeare Company, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival and Griffin Theatre Company. Television credits include “Chicago Med” and “Shining Girls.”
Anna Ouyang Moench’s plays have been produced at the Geffen Playhouse, the Playwrights Realm, East West Players, InterAct Theater and many other theaters across the country and around the world.
Moench is a 2020 Steinberg Award winner and the recipient of a Gerbode Special Award in the Arts commission for a new play that will be produced at Magic Theater in 2022.
In television and film, Moench has worked with Netflix, Apple TV+, HBO, UCP, eOne, PictureStart and Universal.