by dick kerekes dickkerekes@yahoo.com
New plays are the lifeblood of American Theater and the Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actor’s Theatre of Louisville is the grand daddy of them all.
Its contributions over the past 30 years are remarkable, and Jacksonville theaters have produced many of them over the years. Humana’s three Pulitzer Prizes, The Gin Game, Dinner With Friends and Crimes of the Heart have been done more than once in North Florida. Pulitzer finalists “ Keely and Du” and “Omnium-Gatherum” were done last season.
Each year Actor’s Theatre receives about 3,000 scripts for consideration for each festival. Since l977, they have read over 75,000 scripts. Over 300 plays have been produced representing 200 playwrights.
Critics from all over the world attend on special visitors weekend, and yours truly has covered every Festival since l983 for this newspaper and I will be there for # 31.
Over the years a number of theater professionals from the Jacksonville area, have gone to the festival, not only to see the plays but also to meet and greet and learn from other professionals from every corner of the universe.
Actor’s Theatre presents plays all year long, so if you cannot attend any of the Festival plays, check out Actors Theatre of Louisville on the web for information on what is on stage in any of the three theaters the operate
What follows is a brief plot summary of this year’s festival.
by Craig Wright
Imprisoned by a totalitarian regime and mercilessly tortured for unknown crimes, Wallace and Valdez live without hope of escape or release. When an enigmatic new prisoner arrives and begins communication in code, both men develop new relationships to each other, their captors and themselves. A darkly humorous examination of faith in an uncertain world.
by Carlos Murillo
A teenage boy’s fictional Internet identity begins as a harmless game. But the game takes on a frightening reality when real emotion overtakes his online relationship. When Nick’s virtual world online collides with the real one, his fantasies of love, intimacy, obsession and betrayal spiral into consequences that lead him to the brink of death.
by Naomi Lizuka.
In the urban sprawl of Los Angeles, three diverse families each carry a dream, but a recent shooting creates an unexpected seismic shift that rocks each family’s foundation. Faults that were once inactive or dormant suddenly appear and abruptly change the way they think about themselves, their community and their dream.
by Sherry Kramer
After the death of her mother, Sherry’s family home goes up for sale. Sifting through memories of a seemingly simpler time as she packs up her baby-boom childhood, Sherry begins to connect the dots between her Barbie collection and America’s place in the rest of the world. A touching, funny, deeply personal and daringly global one-woman, one Barbie play.
by Ken Weitzman
Aaron’s sister Sarah is succumbing to a mysteriously ice illness and to save her, his family must save…well…all humankind, starting with one guy. With great humor, tremendous compassion and a good dose of mysticism, maybe the apocalypse can be kept at bay by a group of eccentrically dysfunctional, but loving, people.
by Alice Tuan, Whit MacLaughlin & New Paradise Laboratories
Your friend is getting married. Wants to say good-bye to single life forever. You throw a party. A real bash. Does the sky break open? Do you summon the divine? Change? Or just get drunk? Speak now, friends, or forever hold your peace. This collaboration between New Paradise Laboratories and Playwright Alice examines the rites of passage.
a ten minute play by Marco Ramirez
A streetwise kid with a stomach full of grocery store brand mac-and-cheese lives out his Batman fantasy. Accompanied by live drums, crashes, bangs and justice.
a ten-minute play by Deb Margolin
A middle-aged couple receives a visit from an anonymous soldier bearing the news of their son’s death and a photograph of his leg. A searing look at the nature of language and truth, and what happens to the value of bodies in the face of war.
a ten-minute play by Julie Marie Myatt.
Once newlyweds learn who they are, are they sure that they” do?”
Entertaining U will have coverage of the plays in the 3lst Festival, the first week in April. As always I will be looking for new and interesting plays for Jacksonville audiences.
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