WOODS HOLE – The last time P.K. Simonds, a screenwriter with a long track record in television, was involved in theater was decades ago as a student at Harvard University when things changed for him in minutes from “completely excruciating” to “one of the best experiences in my life when the audience started laughing.”
Decades after directing that one play in college, Simonds, is venturing back into the world of live theater with a reading for the Cape Cod Theater Project at Falmouth Academy on Sunday, July 22, of his new play, Bearded Ladies.
The play takes on the complicated #metoo subject matter. Written after the Roger Ailes sexual harassment scandal but before the Harvey Weinstein scandal that prompted the accelerating social change, Simonds said, “I started wondering how woman survived in a working environment like that. What their survival strategies might be.”
“I came up with sort of a comic premise that became more serious as the idea developed,” said Simonds of the two years he spent working on his play.
Sam Waterston, who will be In P.K. Simmonds reading of his new play, “Bearded Ladies” – PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CAPE COD THEATER PROJECT
“It is very accomplished writing, very mature writing, and it’s an interesting subject matter,” said Hal Brooks, artistic director for the Cape Cod Theater Project, which develops new plays for the American theater by putting on staged readings with professional actors.
After the reading on Sunday, Simonds said, “from what I understand, the next step is to find a festival or theater company that’s looking to produce original work.”
For the reading of Simonds play, television star (Law & Order) Sam Waterston will be one of the actors. Waterston is a cousin and former producing partner of Simonds wife, Beth Colt, said Simonds.
“It’s thrilling,” said Simonds about Waterston’s involvement. “He’s a terrific actor and having a terrific actor like Sam will inject energy into
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