"Maverick Secrets: Decoding Early TV Westerns" New Play -- Meet-the-Artists Dress Rehearsal Video Premiere Screening

At this world premiere of a video-recorded Dress Rehearsal, meet our whole creative team. Actors were directed in person and on Zoom recordings to perform drafts of Cat Lee’s script that emerged into final form between October 2023 and Sept 2024. This video was assembled from online and in-person recordings of the final script.

At a city-run San Antonio senior center, a multicultural group of friends is playing Texas Hold’Em poker. They overhear an old Western being broadcast on nearby TV monitors, which stimulates discussion about how these shows may have subconsciously influenced them to have biases about cultural minorities, women’s roles, and openly-carried firearms. They are: Bonnie, divorced, who moved to Texas from back East and is fascinated by the contrasted cultures. She flirts with Keith, a native Texas veteran who developed a taste for game hunting. Mashawn is raising his pre-teen grandson whose father was unjustly incarcerated. Lupe’s Mexican-American family has lived in Tejas for many generations since the 1600s. Valinda, a wheelchair-bound diabetic woman, whose daughter was shot to death by an abusive boyfriend, takes issue with Keith’s and Mashawn’s 2nd Amendment justifications. Cat Lee’s Artist grant from City of San Antonio’s Department of Arts & Culture supported development of this dramatic script. Seniors In Play, where the playwright and actors are affiliated, is co-sponsor of the Premiere Screening.