Montana Playwrights Network offers Montana playwrights' works

From Montana Playwrights Network

Montana Playwrights Network is offering performances of Montana-made works in September with Bards of the Big Sky.

The production is a unique and entertaining blend of original plays written by Montana playwrights Jay Kettering, Pamela Jamruszka Mencher, and Cynthia Webb, coupled with lively and original music by Bozeman musician John Hosking.

Supported by SHARP Grant funding from Humanities Montana and sponsor Slate Architecture, Montana Playwrights Network is opening the Helena Avenue Theatre at 1319 Helena Avenue in Helena with performances of Bards of the Big Sky Sept. 16-18 and 23-25 7:30 p.m., with matinees Sept 19 and 26 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20 each and may be purchased online at http://www.montanaplaywrights.org or people can call or text 406-235-0353 to make reservations.

Jay Ketterling earned his Bachelor of Arts in English/creative writing at the University of Montana in 1982 and is a working writer living in Missoula. His three-part radio series "Notes From The Huntley Project," was produced by Montana Public Radio. To date, he has written four plays for the Montana Repertory Theatre's Educational Outreach Tour, including "Raised in the Saddle: The Phantasmagorical Journey of a Future Rodeo Queen" in 2017. For more about Ketterling and his work, people can visit https://www.jaykettering.com .

Pamela Jamruska Mencher returns to Big Sky Country after working as a college professor and arts advocate in Colorado.  She is an actor, director, producer, costume designer and playwright with more than 26 of her

plays performed throughout the United States and has received many awards recognizing her playwriting, teaching and professional theater careers. She serves as Montana Playwrights Network president and the executive director of the Helena Avenue Theatre.

Cynthia Webb wrote

her first story when she was p years old. She completed a Bachelor of Arts in mass communication at Montana State University Billings. Her work experience includes public radio dj, production assistant at a television station, and emergency medical technician for a volunteer fire department. She's published op-eds in several newspapers, produced four one-woman photography shows, her screenplays have won multiple awards and two of her plays have been produced in Montana. For more about Webb and her work, people can visit https://coyoteunderground.blogspot.com .

As a musician, John Hoskins was first recognized for the music he wrote and performed for the Vigilante Theatre Co. He also performed at coffee shop gigs, playing folk music, Beatles

covers, and his own original tunes. After 30 years with the Vigilante Theatre Company, he began to focus solely on his song-writing.  Today he's enjoying freedom he's found in growing his own unique sound. For more about Hoskins and his work, peple can visit https://thirdpathpromotions.com/artists/john-hosking .

The Helena Avenue Theatres the home for the Montana Playwrights Network, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization incorporated in Montana. The Helena Avenue Theatre is available to individuals, businesses and organizations to rent to present performances, recitals, and other special events.

MPN was formed to provide a forum focusing on story as expressed through a variety of formats including but not limited to playwriting, storytelling, poetry, history, non-fiction, essays, and memoirs. We're looking to connect with writers, storytellers, teachers, performers, theatre companies, libraries, book clubs, and businesses that are interested in storytelling as a way to build communities across Montana.