"Love is Like a Box of Chocolates" - Taste the Local Flavors

“Love is Like a Box of Chocolates” — Taste the Local Flavors

by Karen L. Wisotzkey

“Love is Like a Box of Chocolates.” Now, before you imagine hearing the voice of Tom Hanks, playing “Forrest Gump,” imagine that your own love relationship is a piece of candy in a heart-shaped box. What flavor would yours be? We all know, in a box of chocolates (not the cheater kind with the labels in the lid), as well as in love — “You never know what you’re gonna get.”

In celebration of Valentines Day, Little Theatre of Mechanicsburg (LTM), 915 South York St., Mechanicsburg, will present a Valentines Weekend special production to celebrate the LTM Playwrights Workshop’s One Year Anniversary. Members of the Playwrights Workshop are planning a program called “Love is Like a Box of Chocolates” — an assortment of nine original one-act plays (10-15 minutes each), written by the playwrights themselves. Inside this “box,” you’ll find Mocha Crunch, Marshmallow Créme, Chocolate Covered Cherry, Divinity, Coconut Créme, Bittersweet, and other delectable treats.

With romantic relationships as the underlying theme, the following playwrights, with the help of numerous local actors, will offer staged readings or very limited stagings of their works:

Marjorie Bicknell, “The Blind Date”

Barbara Blank, “Honeymoon Hit-and-Miss”

Ken Byrnes, “A Valiant Woman”

Cindy Dlugolecki, “What’s Love Have to Do With It?”

Brandii Kligge, “The Reunion”

Sandy Oravec, “Balance”

Candy Cain Spahr, “A Night in the Clouds”

Pat Sweeney, “The Mug Tree”

Karen Wisotzkey, “Hopelessly Devoted”

Producer, Marjorie Bicknell; Overall Director, Louise Morgan

Three show times are scheduled for this event, for a “choc full” weekend of entertainment:

Friday, February 11, 8:00 p.m.

Saturday, February 12, 8:00 p.m.

Sunday, February 13, 2:30 p.m.

Following each performance, the audience will have the opportunity to talk with the playwrights and enjoy free refreshments. Admission is $5, and reservations are required for all showings. Box office opens February 1st; call
766-0535 between 6 – 8 p.m.

Whether you laugh or cry, there’s sure to be something in the mix that tastes familiar. All nine plays will be performed at each showing to give the audience a full sampling. Treat your “sweetie” to some of the local flavors!