The Stage Reflects the Page as Author U presents "Sea Marks"

DENVER - Sept. 6, 2016 - PRLog -- "Sea Marks," the iconic two-character by Gardner McKay, pivots on a plot-twist about the publishing business, but has never before been presented to a group of authors. "No audience is poised to understand this play better than the members of Author U," commented co-star Mara Purl. "I can hardly wait to feel the audience response. I bet they'll feel the shock wave from the stage like none of our previous audiences ever have."

Tickets for the show, and for the preceding gourmet dinner, may be purchased by choosing individual events, or registering for the entire conference, at http://authoruextravaganza.org/registration-2016.

Mara Purl, whose Milford-Haven novels and short stories began rocketing to the top of the Amazon and Barnes & Noble best-seller lists in 2011, loves appearing on stage in a reading of the very play that sparked her story. This thirty-first-anniversary performance-reading of "Sea Marks" by Gardner Mckay is being presented by Author U, a national organization for authors in Denver, Colorado.

Purl and her co-star Law have appeared together in this favorite play in numerous previous productions. But this performance will be special for two reasons. First, because it has never before been performed before an audience of authors and publishing experts. Second, because the actors and their director, Eve Tilley, have designed this staged reading with authors and writers in mind.

"If you're an author interested in writing for the stage or screen," Purl explained, "this staged reading, and the following Master Class, are designed to show you this remarkable piece of writing as both a superbly finished work, and as a work-in-progress. You might say we'll be wearing the play inside-out, with the seams showing, so our audience can see step by step what our playwright was conveying."

"We knew Gardner as a friend," added Christopher Law. "He came to see us in our first Cambria production and loved what we did with his characters. But he was also interested in the audience reaction. In fact, peaking out from backstage, Mara saw Gardner sitting sideways, watching the stage, then watching the audience. This is what we want to bring to our Author U audience."

"Sea Marks" is being presented to Denver's premiere authors' group as a part of their annual Extravaganza, and three-day series of intensive workshops and seminars for professional authors. "A hand-picked group of speakers from all over the U.S. come to speak at this event every year," said Executive Director Judith Briles. "And even if some have spoken for us before, they never present the same material twice. This event is for authors who want to be seriously successful," she continued. "This is not a business for sissies. It's a business for the courageous, talented and committed. We take our members' careers seriously, so they must do the same."

"This is the seventh annual Extravaganza, and the event grows each year," said board member and publishing coach Amy Collins. "I fly in from New York for this event. But it isn't just the speakers who gather from around the country. Our attendees this year are coming in from Chicago to California."

The production is directed by Eve Tilley, a noted director from Colorado Springs with a thirty-year career in directing, performing, and heading up arts organizations. "This is a truly beautiful play, and a surprising one. It's touching but also funny, brave, but also romantic. I have so enjoyed working with McKay's work, and working with Mara and Christopher, who have an uncanny connection to the play, and to their audiences."

Mara Purl has become a leading voice in Women's Fiction, with her best-selling book series now having earned twenty-nine book awards. Before she began publishing her books, she created the original radio drama upon which they are based. "Milford-Haven USA" became the first American radio drama ever broadcast by the BBC, where it had a following of over four million listeners. And before she produced her hit radio series, she was an actress on NBC's "Days of Our Lives" where she portrayed the recurring character "Darla Cook."

Purl now has an on-line following of seventeen million when she does her blog tours, and she posts regularly for Happily Ever After on USA Today. She is also a frequent guest on radio talk shows, and also speaks for the American Heart Association, for women's organizations, for writers' conferences and for colleges and universities.

A student of Robert Lewis, the late director of the Yale School of Drama, Purl will offer her Master Class as part of the Author U Extravaganza. Her "Text and Sub-Text" class will take attending authors—who will have seen the performance of "Sea Marks"—into the depth and subtleties of writing dialogue, structuring theatrical scenes, and engaging an audience.

Christopher Law, a former spokesman for Revlon and a familiar face on numerous television commercials, moved to Africa to found his photo safari company, Duma Safaris. A world traveler who has visited 89 countries, he has now returned to the stage and screen, delighting audiences with Audible voice performances as well as his numerous co-starring appearances in "Sea Marks."