13th Playwrights’ Festival opens at Key City Playhouse
Premieres of three award-winning plays by Jefferson County playwrights
Dramatic showdowns in three very different settings highlight
Key City Public Theatre’s 13th Annual Playwrights’ Festival,
opening on Friday, Feb. 20 and running for three weekends at Key
City Playhouse.
The Festival, which opens KCPT’s 2009 mainstage season, features
premiere productions of three winning plays from the 2008 One
Act Play Competition, and is generously sponsored by First
Federal. The One Act Play Competition is an annual event
sponsored by the Port Townsend Arts Commission.
Selected for production at this year’s festival from over forty
submissions by Jefferson County playwrights are James Daly’s
“Signs of Change,” Flip Wingrove’s “The Bingo Wars,” and Jack
O’Connor’s “The Red Bike.”
A western showdown with a comic twist provides the climax in
Daly’s “Signs of Change.” Charles Duncan plays a newcomer to a
small frontier town who doesn’t see eye-to-eye with the local
gunslinger played by John Clise. Rounding out the cast are Marj
Iuro, Mickey McKinney, Michael Cavett, and Peter Brinch.
Playwright James Daly was a first-time entrant and a first-time
winner in the 2008 One Act Play Competition.
Charlie Pendergast (Charles Duncan) is not afraid to stand his ground
against the town bully Jessie Raven (John Clise) in “Signs of Change,”
one of three one-act plays by local writers premiering
at the Thirteenth Annual Playwrights’ Festival running Feb. 20 – Mar. 8
at Key City Playhouse in
Port Townsend. Photo by Eligius Wolodkewitsch.
Military games trigger an unexpected showdown in Wingrove’s “The
Bingo Wars.” Peter Wiant, Jay Page, and Richard Weston are
serving time at a remote desert Army base when visitors played
by Mikaela Euro and Freeman Luoma arrive with mysterious cargo.
Over the years, Flip Wingrove’s plays have received recognition
six times in the One Act Play Competition, most recently for
“Something in the Air,” an honorable mention in 2007.
Showdowns between three generations spotlight O’Connor’s family
drama “The Red Bike.” Lawrason Driscoll plays grandfather Karl,
skeptical that his daughter Kim (Jessica Rice) has come home for
good, and reluctant to invest emotionally in his grandson Richie
(Gerry Coker). Nine-year-old Coker is already a veteran of
several school plays, including “The BFG” at Mountain View
Elementary. Like Wingrove, Jack O’Connor has gotten kudos in the
One Act Play Competition six times, most recently for “A Few
Moments at the Sonatina Café” in 2006.
Can painting a bike heal a family of strangers? Young Richie (Gerry Coker)
isn’t sure what to make of his grandfather (Lawrason Driscoll) when they meet
for the first time in “The Red Bike,” one of three one-act plays by local writers
premiering at the 13th Annual Playwrights’ Festival running Feb. 20 – Mar. 8
at Key City Playhouse in
Port Townsend. Photo by Eligius Wolodkewitsch.
Director Jeane Myers has enjoyed the variety of styles
contributed by the playwrights, and invites audiences to “come
and enjoy a fun, ecletic, and entertaining evening of live
theatre.”
“The Playwrights' Festival opens each new season, reflecting our
on-going commitment to providing a forum for Jefferson County
artists,” says Denise Winter, KCPT Artistic Director. “During
this festival, it's the playwrights who take center stage. Their
words, brought to life in their own community, receive the honor
of production before an audience of friends and family.”
Informal “AfterWords” discussions with the playwrights and
members of the artistic staff and cast will follow all festival
performances.
Key City Playhouse is located at 419 Washington St., Port
Townsend. Festival performances run Feb. 20-Mar. 8, Thursdays at
7 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2:30
p.m. General admission is $15; $10 for students.
For the pay-what-you-wish performance on Thurs., Feb. 26,
advance tickets are available at full price and donations are
accepted at the door for the remaining seats on a first-come,
first-serve basis. This evening is sponsored by the Port
Townsend Arts Commission to encourage accessibility to quality
live theatre for and by the community.
All advance ticket sales are handled by Quimper Sound Music and
Media, 230 Taylor St., Port Townsend; 360-385-2454. FLEXpass
vouchers and gift passes may be exchanged for tickets at Quimper
Sound.
For more about the show or schedule, call the KCPT show info
line at 360-385-7396 or visit the Festival
show page.