Only 20 Minutes

"I've been told by TV directors you can balance the two," Flynn said. And how does a formally educated, highly talented, passionate theater type rationalize working for TV sitcoms? Well, very easily, thank you. For one, she can actually make money at it. For others, from whence do you think sitcoms spring?

"Directing a sitcom, especially a multicamera sitcom, is just like directing a play in two acts," she said. "Except it's only 20 minutes."

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Auditions for the world premiere of OC playwright Tom Swimm's The Hanging of Mary Surratt are this weekend at the Chance Theater. Why should you care? Well, it's not every day that someone writes a play about Surratt, a woman convicted of conspiring to kill Abraham Lincoln; she was the first woman hanged by the U.S. government. Swimm condenses the last two hours of Surratt's life and explores whether this soft-spoken mother of three actually aided in the murder of Abe, or whether she was a victim of a collective thirst for vengeance. The play opens March 22. For info on auditions, call (714) 771-5436 or (714) 329-7311.