9th Annual One Act Play Festival Comes to The Artist’s Exchange

The Artist’s Exchange is currently in rehearsal for its 9th Annual One Act Play Festival, opening July 25. Over 250 short plays were submitted from local, regional and national playwrights and then selected for performance by a panel of directors/artists. All casts feature community actors ranging in age from 9 to 79.

During Wave 1, there will be a new offering of dinner and a show from Character’s Café located at Theatre 82. Included in the ticket price is an entrée and a glass of wine or beer.

Each show is just an hour and a half long with one intermission. Most of the plays are comedic, but overall contain light-hearted elements. The One Act Play Festival’s Artistic Director is Jessica Bradley. She, along with Tom Chase, David Kane, David Tessier, Jack Read, Gladys Cole and Kate Lester direct the 16 shows.

Wave One features eight plays, The Formative Years, by Bostonian Brandon M. Crose, which asks,“In an world rife with violence, viral infections and impossible college admissions standards, how do you give your unborn child the best chance of success?” David MacGregor’s Just Desserts  follows three co-workers who expose a fellow employee stealing other people’s food from the company lunchroom. Finding Fox by Len Cuthbert explores the impact of people upon each other in an airport waiting lounge. In Kung-Foolery, playwright Brett Hursey presents a wife awaiting her mother’s annual visit in nervous anticipation, while her husband also awaits … ! In In the Jar by Mark Harvey Levine, insects fight for their lives while serving time — in a kid’s jar. Dysfunctional family dynamics are explored in J.J. Steinfeld’s More Than Money as three adult siblings are forced to confront their pasts when one of them shows up with a found money-filled satchel. Local theater artist, Kevin Broccoli, who has just completed a successful run of Angels In America at Epic Theater Company presents his show, The Last Two about the last two men on Earth.  Free Hugs, by L.H. Grant, examines a young man seeking contact and comfort, who trespasses into the personal boundaries of a young woman who wishes to be left alone.

Wave Two presents eight plays as well. L.H. Grant makes a second appearance in this festival with My Name Is Santa Claus. It’s Christmas Eve and circumstances bring three disparate people together in a situation fraught with conflict. In Rhea MacCallum’s Kill Me, Please! it’s late at night, the street is deserted, and a serial killer is on the loose. All That’s Good, written by John Levine, explores how the publish-or-perish world of academia is not all that different from the bird-eat-bird world of nature. The Stand-In, Brett Hursey’s second play of the festival, presents an actress auditioning for a theater company’s season while the director arranges for a stand-in to read with her. Todd Wallinger’s character of a teenage girl brings some unexpected guests to her first driver’s ed class in You’re Driving Me Crazy #2. In Lewis Shilane’s Stars, there are things out there in the dark that are best kept secret. In New Year’s Eve, David MacGregor examines residents gathered at the Parkview Retirement Home to celebrate New Years Eve at noon. Also being performed is Christopher D. White’s The Open Door.

Th Artists’ Exchange continues to bring quality, accessible and affordable art and theater to families, individuals and groups in this traditional summer event. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Wave One runs Fridays & Saturdays at 7pm from July 25 through August 2, with Wave Two taking over August 8 through 16.