The Players’ Ring offers sneak peak of its 2009-10 season

The action began when three actors filed wordlessly into The Players’ Ring and promptly collapsed on the floor. They lay motionless as a man in a white lab coat entered the room and announced, “I thought so. Looks like three dead bodies here.” The doctor proceeded to inspect each cadaver, describing their comically grisly wounds into a tape recorder. Within five minutes, all four actors filed back out, leaving the audience to ponder this small dose of a new play.

The performance was a sampling of “Evening Broadcasts II,” which will kick off the Ring’s 2009-10 season on July 10. The play will run for a single weekend, ushering in the Late Night Season, which continues with six other plays through the summer. Then begins the Ring’s Main Season, starting with “Crush Depth” on Sept. 4 and continuing with 13 other productions through June 2010.

Guests were treated to snippets of almost all these plays on April 30 during a season preview at The Players’ Ring, located in Portsmouth’s Prescott Park. Cast members from each show took the small theater’s floor—which was still painted like a miniature baseball field for the Ring’s recent production of “Play Ball”—and introduced their work with brief scenes and descriptions.

Players’ Ring board member Christine Penney said the theater begins the selection process for each season with a producers’ meeting that serves as an audition for aspiring plays. This year, 29 shows auditioned for 14 slots in the Main Season.

Representatives from each show made a two-minute pitch to the Ring’s Artistic Committee, which is headed by board member Todd Hunter. The committee judged each show on its artistic quality and presented its selections to the Board of Directors, which considered the marketability of each play before finalizing the season.

The Ring will also present Tuesday Night Improv sessions with the comedy troupe Stranger Than Fiction from June 9 to Aug. 25. There are also two more shows remaining in the Ring’s current season, including “Fireflies” from May 8 to 31, and “Julius Caesar” from June 5 to 21. The 2009-10 season schedule is provided below.

The Players’ Ring is at 105 Marcy St., Portsmouth, 603-436-8123. The Ring’s annual auditions for performers will take place on Saturday and Sunday, May 30 and 31, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information, visit www.playersring.org.