NYC Strawberry One-Act Festival

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Parent Category: Other Festivals

Category: Theater

Published on Monday, 25 July 2011 05:00

Written by L E Shannon

The Riant Theatre presents the 20th annual NYC Strawberry One-Act Festival from July 28 - August 7, 2011 at The Hudson Guild Theater in Manhattan, New York City.

The brainchild of Artistic Director Van Dirk Fisher, the Festival is a play competition twice a year (in February and in July/August) in which the audience and the theatre's judges cast their votes to select the best play of the season. This year, 38 plays are in competition.

The Opening Night plays include:

Series A:

Press Seven by Sam Reisman
A mysterious voicemail threatens the sanity of two men.

All They Need Is Love by Jennifer Marvel
When it comes down to it - the one thing everyone wants in their life is Love.

Merry Meeting by Jacob Marx Rice
What happens when a man comes home to find his wife having sex with another man, beats that man unconscious and then sits down to have a civilized conversation.

Series B:

The Prenup by Charles Gershman
A side-splitting caricature of coupledom in which a young man’s marriage proposal unravels.

Mi Media Naranja by Rolls Andre
Featuring Rolls Andre, Kim Gainer, Jen Taher
After a night of kinky sex gone horribly wrong, a couple of swingers must re-examine their marriage.

Criminal Mischief by Ellen Orchid
He was a great boyfriend. Until his wife showed up.

Other plays this season include:

It’s Gonna Work Out Fine by Arlene Corsano
music and lyrics by Rose Marie McCoy
The only musical in the line-up, this is the inspiring, true-life story of a prolific and influential songwriter who provided hundreds of hits for the hottest rhythm and blues singers of the 1950s and ‘60s as well as for Elvis Presley, the singer who turned rhythm and blues into rock 'n' roll.

Horst and Graben at the Chateau Godot by Jeffrey Gold
Horst was waiting for his date. Then Graben arrived.

Some of the other entries are:

An Encounter with an Angel on the 42nd Street Platform While Contemplating Suicide
Written & directed by Anna Governali
Featuring Candice Goodluck, Ginger Kearns, Michael McMullan, Victory Chappotin, Michael Borne
As Hunny is sent to save a lost soul that lingers between life and death, the one she is really meant to save is herself.

Butterfly by Trish Cole
The Newtowne Players
Featuring Gloria Ranta, Missy Bell, Jessica Magno
Evocative in the spirit of M. Butterfly, Trish Cole’s Butterfly examines a mother who seeks refuge in an imaginary wildflower field when pushed to confront, from jail, the memories of her relationship with her transgender child.

Paid Off by Robert D. Argen
"Trust me, I’m a banker." Wall Street and Main Street collide in this poignant drama about a banker’s struggle to prove his moral worth to his grieving former English teacher.

Crossing Verrazano by Anthony Fusco
Three young men visiting NYC for a weekend of fun, experience an incident they will never forget. What really happened that night? Based on a true story.

Weight by Kerri Campbell Evans
3 Embryos, 2 women and 1 waiting room.

The Woman Will Get Hurt! By John Passadino
Featuring Vivian Wyrick, Vincent Compono
A man is unexpectedly brought to trial for allegedly breaking the rules of a relationship.

The Semi-Finals:
August 1 - 3
The best plays that have advanced to the Semi-Finals will be performed again.

The Wild Night:
Thursday, August 4
These plays are chosen by the Artistic Director to give them another chance to earn a spot in the Finals.

The Finals:
Friday, August 5 and Saturday, August 6
One play from each Semi-Finals and 1 play from each Wild Night advance to the Finals.

All the playwrights in the Festival return to judge the Finals along with the Theatre’s judges and Audience. The Playwrights‛ and the Theatre’s Judges‛ votes count for 60% of the vote.

The Award Ceremony & Performance:
Sunday, August 7
The 4 plays with the most votes from the finals perform at the Awards Show and Awards are presented to the Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director & Best Play.

Several of this season’s plays will be published in the next edition of The Riant Theatre’s anthology, The Best Plays From the Strawberry One-Act Festival, Volume 8.

The Festival has served as a springboard to major roles in television, film, and theater for a number of its participants.

For more information, go to www.therianttheatre.com.

NYC Strawberry One-Act Festival
July 28 - August 7, 2011

Hudson Guild Theater
441 W. 26th St. (betw 9th & 10 Aves.)
New York City

French's Off-Off Broadway Short Play Fest

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Parent Category: Other Festivals

Category: Theater

Published on Tuesday, 19 July 2011 06:36

Written by Film FestivalTraveler Staff

The 36th Annual Samuel French Inc. Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival runs July 19 - 24, 2011 at The Lion Theater at Theatre Row in New York City.

The Off Off Broadway Festival started in 1975 and is Manhattan’s most established short play festival. Hundreds of theatre companies and schools have participated in the Festival’s first thirty-five years, including companies from coast to coast and abroad. This Festival has served as a doorway to future success for many aspiring writers.

The week-long festival will feature a selection of 40 short plays, six of which will be chosen by the Samuel French, Inc. Editorial Staff with assistance from a panel of judges comprised of established playwrights, literary agents and artistic directors, to receive publication and licensing contracts.

The 40 plays presented in the Festival have been chosen from over 1,000 submissions by playwriting workshops, university theatre programs, and professional companies from across the country.

Plays in the Festival are:

Tuesday, July 19:

• Cabfare for the Common Man by Mark Harvey Levine. A man goes on the cab ride of his life. 10 mins.
• Screen by Nick Gandiello. As Chelle prepares for her father’s wake, she finds a terrible secret on his laptop. 30 mins.
• Hanksylvania by Travis Helwig. The story of a professional football coach and the halftime speech that changed his life. 12 mins.

• Chun Li by Camilla Maxwell. Two boys who should be at a comic-con convention wait at an STD clinic. 10 mins.
• Queen Elizabeth of Factory Fifteen by Tariq Hamami. A female factory worker during WWII must let go of all the women now that the men are returning from war. 30 mins.
• Bubble & Squeak by Evan Twohy. It really will not be good if there are cabbages in Delores’ pants. 25 mins.

Wednesday, July 20:

• The Body Washer by Rosemary Frisino Toohey. A young woman is killed at a military checkpoint. Her death is seen through three sets of eyes. 12 mins.
• The Burglar by Kevin V. Mead. Andrew and Alex live a happy, normal life in the big city…until the darker side of the big city comes bursting through their door. 25 mins.
• Mr. Crossover by Mohammad Yousuf. A young, arrogant streetball player tries to hustle his way into an elite gym. 10 mins.
• Girls Play by Masha Obolensky. Two teenaged girls confront hidden feelings during a roleplay exercise. 10 mins.

• Create Me Pegasus by Amy E. Witting. Deila sees Frank in a new light, shadowed with sadness and hope for the future. 25 mins.
• Mountain Song by Josh Beerman.  At her father's funeral, Trisha discovers her mother’s buried family secrets and a ghost that haunts them both. 30 mins.
• Flight Risk by Caron Levis. He has no choice but to ask her to step out of the vehicle. 10 mins.

Thursday, July 21:

• Assisted Living by Jeffrey Neuman. A tense visitation occurs in an assisted living facility. 25 mins.
• Blood Grass by J. Stephen Brantley. When a young man with a knife in his gut appears in her garden, Mary is forced to confront her past. 14 mins.
• Pluck & Tenacity by Daniella Shoshan. One member of an aspiring rap duo decides to go rogue in order to write love songs. 14 mins.

• Honey Mushroom by Gabrielle Reisman. The Honey Mushroom fungus and the General Sherman sequoia are unlikely penpals in a budding romance. 11 mins.
• The Painter by Stacy Oseiby Kuffour. Cousins reunite to end a haunting promise. 30 mins.
• Grapple by Sarah Young. A re-working of the story of Rapunzel. 25 mins.

Friday, July 22:

• Run. Run. Stop. by Stacy Davidowitz. The fractured journey of a runner who is only able to make sense of her relationships after being the victim of a fatal hit and run. 15 mins.
• Bedfellows by Adam Peltzman. John Adams and Benjamin Franklin are forced to share a bed at a crowded inn. 10 mins.
• The Truth About Christmas by Daniel Pearle. Three mothers and a guidance counselor try to come to terms with an act of school violence. 17 mins.
•  H.M.S. Headwind by Michael Gordon Shapiro. In this short Gilbert and Sullivan-esque musical, the merry crewmen of an 18th century British naval frigate struggle with their inability to capture a single pirate. 15 mins.

• The Sun Turns Black by Margaret Hoffman. A rough-and-tumble cowgirl and her scraggly, disillusioned sidekick, go camping. 20 mins.
• With a Shrug by Nicholas Priore. Shelley gets a surprise visit while cleaning out her childhood home after the death of her father. 30 mins.
• The Perfect Cup of Coffee by David Loughlin. Two cowboys enter a Vermont diner in Vermont on a quest for the perfect cup of coffee. 12 mins.

Saturday, July 23:

• We Happy Animals by Andrew Kramer. Two good ol’ boys drink beer, shoot guns, and reveal too much. 12 mins.
• The Story of Oh (Revised and Abridged) by James Colgan. A sexy farce a la Benny Hill. 10 mins.
• The Empirical Eskimo by Arlitia Jones. On a remote island, two women exchange stories of strange monsters. 18 mins.
• Hiding From Adults by Greg Kalleres. A man begins to question his wife’s faithfulness.

• The Golden Ticket by Jennifer Barclay. Becky’s mom is determined that Becky will have the experience of a lifetime. 10 mins.
• The Muse by Cassie M. Seinuk. Finn sets up his best friend with a unique new job. 16 mins.
• My Name is Yin by Tom Swift. Hikers find 140 shoes filled with butter on a Swedish mountain. 15 mins.
• Taking the Plunge by Greg Edwards & Amanda Louise Miller. Two people who ascend Big Ben for purposes of death.  10 mins.

• Beautiful Hands by Ean Miles Kessler. A young black couple in 1930s Georgia must decide how to begin their new life together. 25 mins.
• First Breath After Total Devastation by Victor Lesniewski. Two strangers ponder the question, "Who can we really turn to in times of crisis?" 20 mins.
• Spats by Adrian Singleton. Jones' predilection for a certain dapper shoe accessory sparks an unforeseen fad. 10 mins.

• Why Pluto is a Planet by Darragh Martin. A gay teen travels to Pluto to meet Marilyn Monroe. 30 mins.
• Tower of Toys by Jackob G. Hofmann. A lesbian couple consider the future of their shaky relationship. 22 mins.
• Dead-Nosed by Oliver Thrun. Santa’s original eight reindeer conspire to murder Rudolph. 20 mins.

Sunday, July 24:
The Finals - Winning shows announced by the judging panel.

For more information, visit oob.samuelfrench.com.

Samuel French Inc. Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival
July 19 - 24, 2011

Lion Theatre
410 W 42nd Street
New York City
212-279-4200

Midtown Intl Theatre Fest 2011

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Parent Category: Other Festivals

Category: Theater

Published on Friday, 08 July 2011 11:05

Written by L E Shannon

The 12th season of the Midtown International Theatre Festival (MITF) is playing July 11 - 31, 2011 at the June Havoc Theatre, the Dorothy Strelsin Theatre, the Main Stage Theater, and the Jewel Box Theater in Manhattan, New York City.

John Chatterton created the MITF, a Midtown alternative to other theatre festivals, in 2000 as a way to present the finest off-off Broadway talent in convenience, comfort, and safety. The MITF's artistic emphasis is on the script itself, and therefore the Festival requests minimal production values.

The MITF celebrates the diversity of theatre with a broad spectrum of genres, forms, identities, cultures, and appetites. The MITF seeks to nurture new ideas, perspectives, and stories on its stages, with the intention of guiding these productions toward future success and longevity.

Some of the 33 plays being performed are:

Alice: A New Musical
Book by Andrew Barbato
Music/Lyrics by Andrew Barbato and Leslie Desantis
Produced by Cellar Door
A young girl runs away from her 13th birthday, only to discover that becoming an adult doesn't have to mean letting go of your childhood.

Boomers, The Musical of a Generation
Book, Music & Lyrics by Peter Baron
"An intimate, emotional roller coaster ride with Will and Laura, through three decades of world altering events. Their dreams and idealism collide with reality to forever alter their fairy tale existence."

Dad Doesn't Dance
By Nora Brown
Produced by Small Pond Enterprises
A woman's quest to find her biological father. "Clues from five mysterious men help her reach BioDad's door in Hollywood. Does she have the courage to knock?"

Flowers: A Thorny Romance Story
By Carolyn M. Brown and D.E. Womack
Produced by All in Black and White Productions
Whether she's a Fortune 500 wife and mother, Christian immigrant, lesbian poet, or a teenager in love, whenever a woman is hit she gets a bouquet of flowers and an apology. Flowers intertwines vignettes, monologues, poetry and music to explore love's journey.

Hanky Panky
By Vicki VodreyProduced by Lot In Life Productions, LLC
"A family descends on Flowering Fields Nursing Home around the bedside table of their nearly deceased patriarch. Old wounds are re-opened and new battle lines are drawn in the hilarious dark comedy."

Lavender Shore
Written by Lawson Caldwell
Directed by Lenny Leibowitz
A woman with two husbands, one of whom has fallen in love with someone else, and a twice-scorned woman who is the best friend of the bride. Or is she? A gender-bending twist on a comic yet touching tale of true love in 1936 New York high society.

Mad Mel and the Marradians
Written and Produced by Gary Morgenstein (Syfy Channel)
In this sci-fi comedy, a writer's phony scholarship stumbles upon a deadly plot by ancient aliens. Now they invade. In pearls.

Peg O' My Heart
Adapted as a Musical by Karin Baker
Original 1920s play by J Hartley Manners
Produced by Hell's Kitchen Musicals
"It's 1920 and young Peg is traveling from lower Manhattan to upper class English society, where the banks are failing and all hell is about to break loose. Who knew one young girl could singlehandedly burst everyone's bubble."

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
By Tom Stoppard
Produced by Panicked Productions
An all female cast as the late 16th Century comedy duo.

Sarke
By Lia Bakhturidze Sirelson
Produced by Dancing Crane, Inc.
MITF's first-ever foreign language production, written in the Georgian language. Veriko, an elderly Tbilisi woman, tries to marry her daughter to a "rich" NY Georgian man in this entertaining yet tragi-comic clash between the old and new cultures.

Sex Curve
Written and Produced by Merridith Allen
Hypothesis: Science can control who you fall in love with. After a nasty break-up, a biochemist invents a serum which blocks the effects of the love-inducing hormone, oxytocin. She then creates an experiment which declares war on love, sex, relationships and gender roles.

For more information, go to www.midtownfestival.org.

Midtown International Theatre Festival
July 11 - 31, 2011

June Havoc Theatre
Dorothy Strelsin Theatre
Main Stage Theater
Jewel Box Theater
312 W. 36th Street
New York City