Dr. Timothy Scheurer - Author of “Tax Time,” a play featured in the Third Annual One Act Play Festival in Newport, Wash.

Portia Williams | Daily Times

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PORTIA WILLIAMS

PDT Staff Writer

The Third Annual One Act Play Festival at the Pend Oreille Playhouse in Newport, Wash. had a Portsmouth presence this year.

Dr. Timothy Scheurer, Ph.D, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Shawnee State University wrote a play titled, “Tax Time,” which was one of eight plays chosen for the festival. The reading panel also scored Scheurer’s play with the highest score overall. The festival convened for two days, July 13 and 14, with Scheurer’s play runnning Friday, July 13.

“When I got notification that they had accepted the play and it was going to used in the festival, it was just a thrill. You know you have those moments in your life, like the birth of a child, or your wedding day,” Scheurer said. “I had a musical composition performed at Bowling Green when I was a graduate student, and books published, but this is just one of the most thrilling experiences.”

Loosely based on Scheurer’s personal experiences, the play features a couple getting ready to meet with their accountant at tax time.

“About two and half years ago I started writing plays, I’ve always loved drama. I’ve done a couple of full-length plays, a few one acts, and a bunch of little ten minute plays. This one just clicked, and that’s what I have, my very first play produced,” Scheurer said.

Scheurer’s experience in literature spans over a period of 30 years, and as well as popular culture. He is the author of work such as, “Music and Myth-making in Film: Genre and the Role of the Composer” (McFarland) and “Born in the United States: The Myth of America in Popular Music from Colonial Times to the Present” (University Press of Mississippi).

Scheurer said 2012 has been a really good year for him thus far, as he and his wife Pamela Scheurer, Ph.D., who is an associate professor of Education at Capital University in Columbus, wrote an article that was published in the Journal of Popular Culture. He has written a myriad of articles with topics ranging from the Beatles to the Vietnam War.

Scheurer said that he will continue to write and has already begun work on another play. His desire is to see more of his work go into production.

“I am going to keep plugging away, and sending things out to different theatre companies, and contests, and hope that something will be produced,” Scheurer said.

Portia Williams may be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 234 or portiawilliams@heartlandpublications.com