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“A Concern of Some Kind” comes to Furman Playhouse in June and July

|Jeff Sumerel says the show is

Last updated June 3, 2017

By News administrator

Greenville native Jeff Sumerel, a producer of some of the region’s most humorous and provocative films and plays, will bring his singular point of view to the Furman Theatre Playhouse this summer for a series of weekly half-hour shows that will be streamed live in front of a studio audience.

Along with other professional entertainers from across the state, Sumerel will launch his live “puppetry-of-the-absurd” sitcom from the Furman Playhouse on Saturday, June 17 at 8 p.m.

Jeff Sumerel calls the show a “bit outlandish and unconventional.”

The half-hour program will be broadcast via LiveStream using a multi-camera live broadcast system, allowing viewers from around the globe to tune in and comment during the show.  The shows will continue for six consecutive Saturday nights through the end of July.  All shows begin at 8 p.m.

“A Concern of Some Kind” will be a “wonderfully odd” half-hour show focused on humor and social awareness, with an underlying aim to spark community participation and action.  The show will be interactive, allowing studio audience members, and home viewers, to influence the show.

Several of the episodes will feature guest appearances by members of the arts community around the state, including Harriett Green, Visual Arts Director at the South Carolina Arts Commission, and Marjorie Wentworth, South Carolina State Poet Laureate.

“I see this as an exciting combination of theatre, artistic collaboration and innovative broadcasting,” said Sumerel. “The partnership with Furman University gives us the perfect setting in their Playhouse that allows for the complex technical needs, while accommodating an intimate studio audience. This show is a bit outlandish and unconventional, so I am thrilled by the support we have already received from Furman and the arts community across the state.”

A Concern of Some Kind echoes elements of other ground-breaking works such as “Blue Man Group,” “Avenue Q,” and “Wallace & Gromit.”  An incarnation of the show was hatched back in 1991 when Sumerel performed it for a five-week run at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta.

Sam Reynolds, Sumerel’s artistic collaborator of many years, is serving as the show’s executive producer. Other seasoned professionals onboard are Jeter Rhodes, Missy Vaughan-Kleppel, Phil Davis and Mark Hayes.

A Concern of Some Kind can be viewed live each Saturday night at 8 p.m. via the show’s website. If you’re interested in attending the show at the Furman Playhouse, free tickets are also available on the show’s website.  The show is suitable for mature audience members of any age.

 “A Concern of Some Kind” Sitcom Schedule:

  • June 17: Premiere Episode, “A Cream Come True”
    Guest artist: Wim Roefs, owner of If Art Gallery, Columbia SC
  • June 24: Episode 2, “Make-Over & Out”
  • July 1: Episode 3, “All Talk, Abstraction.”
    Guest artist: Harriett Green, Visual Arts Director at S.C. Arts Commission
  • July 8: Episode 4, “I Think, Therefore Iambic Pentameter”
    Guest artist: Scott Blackwell, owner of High Wire Distilling
  • July 15: Episode 5, “Lead By The Knows.”
  • July 22: Episode 6, “Better To Give, Than To Deceive”
    Guest artist: Marjorie Wentworth, S.C. State Poet Laureate, Charleston SC
  • July 29: Season Finale, “A Gain In The Neck”

For more information, contact info@aconcernofsomekind.com.

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Clinton Colmenares
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