Among the better known of the scribes plucked for the fest are Etan Frankel (Create Fate at Williamstown Theatre Festival), Sheri Wilner (Bake Off at the Actors Theatre of Louisville) and Rob Handel (Aphrodisiac at 13P).
The final plays were selected by a committee including Walter Bilderback, David Binder, Jo Bonney, Polly K. Carl, Jeremy Dobrish, David Dower, Gordon Edelstein, Todd London, Eduardo Machado, Lisa McNulty, Richard Nelson, Matthew Byam Shaw, Leigh Silverman, John Weidman.
The 15 plays are:
The Butcherhouse Chronicles by Michael Hidalgo "is about four high school students looking for their missing history teacher."
Father Joy by Sheri Wilner "is a fantastical comedy about a girl whose father is actually disappearing before her very eyes." The play has been seen at the O’Neill Playwrights Conference, Rattlestick Theater, and The Old Vic Theatre in London.The Fearless by Etan Frankel "follows the decade-long journey of three friends who formed a rock band in college".Gardening Leave by Joanna Pinto "finds a lonely older British man whose life is turned around when a pretty young Iranian woman comes to help with his rooftop garden."Hardball by Victoria Stewart "is a comedy about a rising female Republican political pundit."Hitting the Wall by Barbara Blumenthal-Ehrlich "is a dark comedy about a pair of neighbors putting their lives together after the death of one of their children."Marge by Peter Morris "is a comedy about a man who hires a prostitute to help murder his wife." The play was presented at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and workshopped at Soho Rep. Millicent Scowlworthy by Rob Handel is a “ripped from the headlines” story "that finds teenagers reenacting a murder that took place in their community." The play was supported at the O’Neill, Rattlestick, and The Flea. Sonia Flew by Melinda Lopez "follows a Cuban exile haunted by the memories of her past when her son announces his intention to join the Marines." The play has been seen at the Huntington Theatre Company and the Contemporary American Theater Festival.Spain by Jim Knable "is a comedy about a woman, recently separated from her husband, who encounters a sixteenth-century conquistador in her twenty-first century living room."Splitting Infinity by Jamie Pachino "is about two old friends, a Rabbi and an astrophysicist who wants to prove that God does not exist." The play has been developed at Steppenwolf, Hartford Stage, American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, and ACT Seattle.The Squirrel by Alex Moggridge "is a comedy that follows a woman and her oversensitive husband, overbearing sister, and a man she just hit with her car." Swansong by Patrick Page "is a fictitious story about real life playwright Ben Johnson putting together the first Folio of William Shakespeare's work after the Bard's death." The play was nominated in 2002 for Best Play by the American Theatre Critics Association, and has seen readings as Arizona Theatre Co., and The Producer’s Club, among others.Training Wisteria by Molly Smith Metzler "combines a dysfunctional family with a dirty yard and home improvement on the evening of the son's graduation party."A Wive's Tale by Christina Ham "is a futuristic drama about a group of barren women in the future conspiring to create the perfect society." *
The three-year-old festival recently spawned its first New York commercial production in Kenny Finkle's Indoor/Outdoor, recently Off-Broadway at DR2. That play was seen at the 2005 festival.
The festival is the brainchild of producer Arielle Tepper. The festival covers production costs of all the shows, making it a much cushier environment for artists than, say, the New York International Fringe Festival, in which participants pay a nonrefundable $500 fee and pay for all aspects of mounting the show, save renting a space. Additionally, the festival holds no rights to the shows at any times.
