An apartment building ablaze, suicidal thoughts, an android with a lethal virus and still seven more short stories make for 100 memorable minutes of theater in the fifth annual Island Theatre Ten Minute Play Festival, returning to the Bainbridge Performing Arts stage Friday, Aug. 19 and Saturday, Aug. 20.
Out of 66 submitted plays from both experienced and emerging Kitsap County playwrights, 10 were selected to be performed by Island Theatre directors and actors. All of them will be staged during each of the three shows this year.
Every entry was subjected to a blind judging (meaning the playwright’s identity was hidden) by three theater professionals. The playwrights are required to either live in or have a strong connection to Kitsap County, and although they were allowed to submit up to three entries, only one play per author has been selected for production.
This year’s featured playwrights include six returning winners from past festivals and four newcomers.
Managing director and Island Theatre co-founder Steve Stolee said that though there was no overarching theme common among the plays chosen, comedy did seem more prevalent than drama.
“There’s no theme,” Stolee said. “We tinkered with the idea of using a theme to select the plays, but we’ve always voted against it ultimately, and this has worked out just fine. In the five iterations that we’ve done this we’ve had nice selections of things, sort of a round, varied palette each time.”
The 2016 offerings are:
“a.d.a.m.” BY ROB BURKE
After discovering that a malicious virus has infected a.d.a.m., the world’s first lifelike android, a scientist must not only tell him about the virus, but also terminate him;
“BENCH-WARMER” BY MIRANDA RAY
A young woman reflects on the downturn her life has taken as she watches her apartment building burn to the ground;
“MEMORY” BY SARA BARTSCH
Three friends in their late teens experience an increasingly dark array of emotions;
“OF POISONED PENS & PALATES” BY JUDITH GLASS COLLINS
A rather unpalatable blind date, a waitress who is hard to swallow and a soupçon of revenge (just another guy meets gal story);
“ONE NIGHT AT THE HOTEL BARBARY” BY PAUL LEWIS
When businessman Jerald Reynolds checks into the Hotel Barbary, all he’s hoping for is a good night’s sleep. As his night steadily unravels, he realizes that he’s actually been looking for something else altogether;
“PLUGGED IN” BY WENDY WALLACE
The soon-to-be age old tale of a man and a woman bonding over a mutual need to recharge their laptops;
“SLEEP” BY RICHARD LEINAWEAVER
Sometimes life is so bad that you’d do anything to make it stop. And sometimes no one can be found to help. And so, like Hamlet, you might think of shuffling off this mortal coil yourself;
“STELLA & STANLEY: FIRST DATE” BY MARY VICTORIA DOMBROWSKI
How does anyone ever manage to find romance these days? Stella and Stanley face more than the usual hurdles;
“THE EASY CHAIR” BY NED THORNE
A couple’s routine is disrupted by the sudden appearance in their front room of an easy chair belonging to an old friend — whom they assumed died years before; and
“THE ROYAL DELUXE” BY JAMES E. ANDERSON III
A widow has the peace and solitude of her humble seaside cottage disturbed by fans seeking the home of her late husband, a famous author.
Regardless of theme or tone, the winners were chosen based on quality, Stolee said.
“What we’re really looking for is good, entertaining theater,” he explained.
Even in keeping to such a brief run time, each play in the festival, he added, was a complete story unto itself.
“They’re not fragments. Each one has a beginning, a middle and an end to it. So they’re complete pieces in and of themselves.”
At the helm of the production are this year’s directors: Brian Danzig, Rozzella Kolbegger, Matt Longmire, Tell Schreiber and Ann Wilkinson Ellis, leading an ensemble cast of 30 Kitsap County actors: Quinn Balas, Danna Brumley, Toby Champion, Karla Cole, Trent Craighead, Barbara Deering, Shannon Dowling, Bob Downing, Liz Ellis, Molly Gordon, Jalyn Green, Charlie Hamilton, Teagan Howlett, Jennifer Jett, Daniel Kluth, Michael Loudon, Hayden Longmire, Matt Longmire, Sam McJunkin, Jennifer Behrens Pippin-Montañez, Julianne Reynolds, Mike Rose George Shannon, Cade Strong, Tim Tully, Kyle Turner, Ruth Urbach, SueEllen VanDuyne, Diane Walker and Luke S. Walker.
The festival is recommended for ages 13 and above, as some plays include strong language and adult subject matter.
There will be three productions: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 19, and 3 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20. Doors open at 7 p.m.
Tickets, $15 for adults and $10 for seniors/students, are on sale. Visit www.islandtheatre.org or www.bainbridgeperformingarts.org to purchase.
This year is the first that a set ticket price has been established, Stolee said.
“We’ve always done pay what you like,” he explained. “We’ve always wanted to be the alternative theater that allowed for easy access, and we don’t charge or sell tickets for our other productions.
“We’re trying to figure out how to sustain this and to keep it worth coming to,” he added. “Expenses go up all the time. Everybody in the production of this is a volunteer.”
Founded in 1994, Island Theatre’s regular schedule includes bimonthly staged play readings at the Bainbridge Public Library and, in intervening months, potluck dinners in privately hosted homes at which all guests are welcome to join in a selected play reading. Island Theatre is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization supported through One Call for All and donations.
10 plays in two days
What: Island Theatre’s fifth annual Ten Minute Play Festival
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 19, and 3 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20
Where: Bainbridge Performing Arts
Admission: $15 for adults and $10 for seniors/students. Visit www.islandtheatre.org or www.bainbridgeperformingarts.org to purchase.
