Curt Sconiers' "Mixed Messages" is a Showcase of Smyrna Talent

Curt Sconiers is one of the many multi-talented individuals who call Smyrna home and his second play, “Mixed Messages,” will premiers tonight at 8 at the .

Like his first penned effort, “Choices,’’ Sconiers’ play tonight focuses on relationships and how we can make the right decisions in those relationships to make sure they last.

“Mixed Messages” is the story of a successful doctor, Doug, and his devoted wife, Vickie. Doug finds himself attracted to a younger woman named Ashley. When Ashley puts a message up on Doug’s Facebook wall, Vickie starts to suspect that Ashley is more than just a friend to her husband. Then Ashley requests Vickie to be her Facebook friend and the situation gets even more complicated.

While there is humor in his plays, the playwright seeks to keep it from being outlandish. Sconiers, who is also a musician, actor and producer, thinks technology and social media such Facebook has added another complicated element to relationships that we must learn how to deal with.

Sconiers moved to Smyrna after leaving the Air Force in 1994. “I was pursuing a career as the next R&B superstar,” Sconiers explained, “I write music and sing, so I did a lot of talent showcases and studio work.”

He nearly released an album, but felt called to another area of creative enterprise. Sconiers found that writing and producing plays was something that could combine his many talents, so in December 2009, he formed Real Relationship Productions.

“I can take my love for acting and drama and also my musical ability and kind of couple it all together,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot from relationships that I’ve been in and I just kind of wanted to take what I’ve learned…and actually answer some questions for some other people.” 

Both plays that Sconiers has written and produced focus on how our relationships can sometimes suffer because of one partner being unfaithful or making other harmful choices. Sconiers says that he is often inspired by real life events.

“My concept is I can take basically everyday situations that we go through and actually put them on stage,’’ he explained. “So a lot of times you actually look at your situation onstage, so you are actually outside of your situation looking in seeing somebody else in it.’’

Sconiers’ plays have elements of morality and Christian values in them but they aren’t just for those who go to church. “Sometimes every now and then you might hear some (curse) words in there…you know what you might call…contemporary, secular type of scenes, but they are laced throughout with Biblical principles and faith-based concepts.”

Sconiers’ main goal is to help others view their own relationships from a perspective that allows them to find solutions that they might not have seen before. There might even be a “Choices” movie in the near future.

“I’m looking at making “Choices” into a film, even if I do an independent film version, by the end of this year,” Sconiers said.

“Mixed Messages’’ premiers tonight at 8 p.m. at the Smyrna Community Center at 200 Village Green Circle. Tickets can be purchased here for $15 before 4 p.m. today, and then for $20 tonight at the door.