Whidbey playwright creates ‘Play Club’

During the COVID-19 pandemic, South Whidbey resident and playwright Amy Wheeler wondered what would become of theater and how to support her favorite form of art during a time when it was in its most fragile state.

So she decided to create Play Club, which is described as “a book club with a theatrical twist.” Every month, members read a play, join online group discussions about the selected script and meet the playwright virtually.

In starting Play Club, Wheeler has created a community for fellow lovers of theater to connect and bond, something people hungered for during the often lonely times of the pandemic.

“There’s big conversations in theater right now about how vulnerable it is as an art form that has to happen in person,” Wheeler said. “But as a playwright and theater artist and teacher, I think plays also exist on the page, they’re also literature, they also can be read and talked about.”

Wheeler emphasized that the mission of Play Club is to explore living playwrights, especially those who identify as women, nonbinary, queer and/or BIPOC, which stands for Black, indigenous, people of color.

“For a lot of people, we only read Shakespeare in school,” Wheeler said, “and you know that Shakespeare is considered literary work and you can read it and you can talk about it, but you don’t think about contemporary plays.”

Some of Play Club’s featured playwrights have a direct connection to Whidbey Island, such as Molly Smith Metzler, creator of the 2021 Netflix drama series “Maid” that is set in the Pacific Northwest. Metzler is an alum of the Hedgebrook Women Playwrights Festival. Hedgebrook is the South Whidbey literary nonprofit organization that provides writing residencies for women writers from all over the globe. Wheeler served as the former executive director of Hedgebrook for 13 years.

“A lot of people have gotten intrigued about Whidbey and what’s in the water out there,” Wheeler said.

Play Club currently has over 250 members, including some from other countries such as China and Mexico. Members are of all ages and come from all walks of life. Some are playwrights themselves, others are people who love to go to the theater.

“I think what we do is unlike anything else because it kind of is out of thin air,” Wheeler said. “A group of people come together and make something and share it, and it’s different every time it happens, it’s different every time it’s produced, every performance is different, and then you break down the set and it’s gone. It’s kind of this ephemeral art form.”

Wheeler facilitates the three conversations per month, which happen over Zoom. Her wife likes to create a mocktail/cocktail recipe and a playlist inspired by themes in the selected play.

In 2023, Wheeler and members of Play Club started attending live theater performances together in different cities. Theaters have been partnering with Play Club to offer group discounts.

“It’s funny when you have an idea to do something and you don’t know who will show up, and then the people who show up end up shaping what it is,” Wheeler said. “I feel like it’s kind of growing into more than just a book club, it’s growing into a community.”

Anyone belonging to the Whidbey community can send an email to info@theplayclub.org in order to get a membership discount. Regular membership is $15 a month or $150 annually. For students, it’s $5 a month or $50 annually. While this doesn’t cover the cost of plays, there are plenty of resources available to find them.

Besides Metzler, the 2022-2023 lineup of playwrights includes Sarah Ruhl, Lynn Nottage, Lauren Gunderson, Yussef El Guindi, Dael Orlandersmith, Lauren Yee, Quiara Alegria Hudes, Karen Hartman, Cheryl West, Samuel Hunter, KJ Sanchez, Naomi Iizuka, Ellen McLaughlin, Kathleen Tolan and Eisa Davis.

For more information, visit theplayclub.org.

Photo provided Amy Wheeler, left, with actor Lynda Divito, who played Ruth Bader Ginsburg in “Justice” at Marin Theatre Company in San Francisco in March.