Arts of the Inland writer Chuck Wood of Lehigh Acres is a winner of the Naples Players annual one-act play playwriting competition. His short play Waiting for my Vote was among the four winning plays chosen. Among the hundreds of persons in long lines on election day 2012, Waiting for my Vote centers on two strangers who form an unexpected friendship while in line. The two share small talk, a snack, deeper insights, and a surprise decision.
All four plays will receive staged public readings at the Sugden Theatre the evenings of December 6 and 7. A public reception will be held for the winning playwrights following the December 6 performances. Chuck was also a Naples winner in 2005 for his play Tonight is Forever.
In July Mr. Wood learned that he had won first place in the Clarence ‘Bud’ Jones Memorial Playwriting Competition, sponsored by the Firehouse Theatre in La Belle. His winning longer play Up Close from a Distance will receive a full staged production at Firehouse Theatre during the 2014-15 season.
In Up Close from a Distance, a south Florida college English instructor attempts to write the perfect love story for the stage, guided by her colleague who directs the theatre program. Meanwhile an accomplished artist, encouraged by his travel writer friend, is challenged to locate a captivating woman whose facial image repeatedly visits him in dreams. Two young acting students round out the cast. Larger-than-life forces make their way into the lives the the six characters, sharpening their awareness of life choices within their control as well as those beyond their control.
Chuck has a background in teaching at the high school and college levels. He has been a member of Arts of the Inland since its inception. Chuck has a longtime writing connection with the Gulf Coast Writers Association and with the Penpushers at the Lehigh Acres Senior Center. He has also written and directed a number of dramatic productions at the Lehigh Acres Church of the Nazarene.