The money’s gone, the Vineyard must be sold, but Lucy Ravine and her brother Leo are living in the glorious past, not in 1980s California Wine Country. Ann Tracy’s “The Vineyard” is an adaptation of Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard”, a story of rural development, lost love, losing your home and how absurd people can be when facing change. This Playwrights Collaborative workshop reading of “The Vineyard” is set for 7 PM, September 6, 2009 at the Big Idea Theatre, 1616 Del Paso Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95815. The event is free but donations are gratefully accepted.

Tracy is not only a playwright, but also an actor, director and artist. She founded Beyond the Proscenium Productions in 1994, where she directed dozens of world and regional premieres. She has written nine scripts, seven of which have been produced in California. She is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, alumnae of the Directors Lab West and a member of the Dramatists Guild.

She was the first female voice on the air at KTLK, Denver in 1977 as an overnight radio news announcer. This first job in radio news led to a ten-year career as a broadcast journalist in the Denver, Milwaukee, San Jose and Sacramento markets. Ann is also an artist working in the digital and video mediums. Her fine art has been exhibited from Japan to Maui to New York City. In 2003 her work, “Stop” was included in the catalog of the “Violence Against Women”, Group 78 Amnesty International show, Tokyo, Japan. Her digital painting “Message 3” appeared in the 2008 edition of American Art Collector.

The Playwrights Collaborative is an organization of writers, actors, directors and others interested in the theater, working together to promote the development and production of new plays in Sacramento and elsewhere. Through a cooperative process of peer review, Playwrights Collaborative assists in making plays ready for production and helps in finding suitable venues where shows might be performed. For further information or if you have a play you would like workshopped, contact Gary Agid, chairman, at gary@agid.com (916-383-9267).