Tom Rushen to Direct During Six-Play Festival

Tom Rushen, who's active in the Milford Fine Arts Council, will direct “The Right to Dry” during “,” a festival featuring six short, Jewish-themed plays. The series, presented by The Temple Players, will be performed on June 23 and June 26, at 7:30 p.m., at .

"The Right to Dry,” written by Shirley King of Benicia, Calif., is based on a Hasidic folk tale, explains Rushen. “The story starts with a feud over a clothesline,” the Stratford resident says. “But during a discussion, dirty laundry gets aired.”

Rushen is a playwright as well as a director and performer. Currently, he is directing “Sabrina Fair,” a  romantic comedy, at the Westport Community Theater. That production concludes its run this weekend, June 17-19.

“I am also active in Eastbound Theatre, which is a part of the Milford Fine Arts Council,” he says.

In July he will serve as a producer of the council’s Eastbound Summer 2011, a presentation of five one-act plays. The productions will occur during the New England Arts & Crafts Festival, which takes place at the Milford Green, July 10 and 11.

In August, he will direct a short play written by his brother, Jack Rushen, during Stratford Festival. “Jack will also direct a play that I’ve written during that event,” he says.

"My play, 'Unblocking Will,' is about Shakespeare struggling with writer's block.  Like all writers, he agonizes that the block is the end of his career, as a childhood friend, a barmaid and a mysterious patron do their best to help him through," he says. 

"Jack's play, 'Conversations with Shakespeare Charlie,' is a young man's reminiscence of a neighborhood character who introduced him to literature.