Unpublished Shorts By William Inge To Be Performed 4/22

Several short plays by the late Pulitzer Prize-winning writer William Inge, never before publicly performed, will premiere April 22 at the annual William Inge Theatre Festival in his Kansas hometown.

The 28th annual William Inge Theatre Festival celebrates the legacy of great American playwrights and honors Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt April 22-25. They will receive the coveted Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre Award, joining the list of previous Inge Festival honorees such as Arthur Miller, August Wilson, Wendy Wasserstein, Neil Simon, and Stephen Sondheim.

The world premiere Inge plays will be directed by Karen Carpenter, an accomplished professional theater artist of many varied pursuits. Carpenter has produced and directed for commercial and non-profit theater for over 20 years.

"Special collections throughout the country are full of unpublished material that has never seen the light of day," said Marcel LaFlamme, curator of the William Inge Collection and Director of the Learning Resource Center at Independence Community College. "Here at ICC, though, we're fortunate to have a close relationship with a premier arts organization that's interested in staging this unpublished work. Other special collections should be so lucky."

The Inge Collection, housed at ICC, is the repository of more than 400 original manuscripts written by William Inge. Born in 1913 in Independence, Kansas, Inge won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama ("Picnic"), the Oscar for Outstanding Screenplay ("Splendor in the Grass,") and had four consecutive hits on Broadway. He died in 1973. The William Inge Theatre Festival was founded in 1982 to honor his legacy and to celebrate great living American playwrights.

"The successful 2007 Broadway revival of ‘Come Back, Little Sheba,' no doubt reconfirmed William Inge as one of America's foremost playwrights," said Peter Ellenstein, Artistic Director of the William Inge Center for the Arts. "There is a new awareness of the humanity of the everyday characters William Inge so effectively creates, and the moving drama inherent in them.

"However, people who think they know William Inge's ‘style' will be intrigued and thrilled with these unpublished plays," Ellenstein said. "They are representative of a formidable range for which William Inge is not widely known."

A highlight is "Morning on the Beach." It is a nostalgic wistful comedy set at a summer resort. The regular customers and The Lifeguard staff intermingle and share their life's desires in an atmosphere of playfulness, but then the daughter of a crusty customer takes a shine to a young man. "This play is very optimistic, and celebrates life as a beautiful poem, a theme that resonates throughout the piece," said Ellenstein.

Inge reveals a full-force sense of humor in "Bad Breath." This hilarious farce is complete with timely entrances and exits. The story sends up commercialism, as a housewife relies on consumer products to attain perfection and rescue her family from mortifying social situations.

Inge is known for his moving portrayal of those outside the mainstream who struggle for acceptance. "Moved In" explores the successful assimilation of such "outsiders." The story begins as an African-American husband and wife receive some interesting news. The ending affirms that marvelous things can happen to proud, ordinary people.

"Moved In" is one of several short plays Inge wrote for "Complex," a collection of stories set in an apartment building, and the inspiration for the collection of plays. "A Silent Call" features some more familiar Inge characters: two unmarried female teachers are roommates. Their ordinary lives unravel when confronted with mysterious telephone calls.

The collection of plays is titled "A Complex Evening," as some of the plays are from the series that Inge wrote for "Complex." Casting is underway and some additional shorter pieces by Inge may also be introduced in the evening's entertainment.

Director Carpenter served as Associate Artistic Director for the Tony award-winning Old Globe Theater for seven seasons. Last year, Carpenter was one of a select few nominees nationwide for the Alan Schneider award at Theater Communications Group, and the Mike Ockrent Fellowship at the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, the foremost trade associations honoring directors' work. Casting is underway.

"A Complex Evening," the world premiere of several short plays by William Inge, is the official opener of the 28th Annual William Inge Theatre Festival.
Performance time is 7:30 p.m. Wed. April 22 at the William Inge Theatre, located at Independence Community College.

Thursday, April 23, is the concert reading of a new play by Chicago-based playwright Carlos Murillo. It is titled "Diagram of a Paper Airplane" and features guest professional performers.

All the special guests gather with theater patrons on Friday, April 24, for a gala dinner and silent auction, starting at 6 p.m. at the Independence Civic Center.

The festival climaxes Saturday, April 25, at the Tribute to Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt. The duo will be presented with the Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre Award, in recognition of their many musical creations. These include "The Fantasticks," "110 in the Shade," and "I Do! I Do!" among many.

Tickets go on sale online March 1 at www.ingefestival.org. Or they are available after that date by calling (800) 842-6063 ext. 5491 or (620) 332-5491. Independence, Kansas, is located 90 miles north of Tulsa, Okla., and 120 miles south of Kansas City, Mo.

Major supporters of the William Inge Center for the Arts, sponsor of the William Inge Theatre Festival, include: the Kansas Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Hallmark Corporation, the William T. Kemper Foundation, Commerce Bank, Trustee.

Peter Ellenstein (Artistic Director), prior to coming to the Inge Festival in August 2001, served as producing director of the Los Angeles Repertory and worked as a producer, director and actor in theatre, film and television for 25+ years. He has directed professionally all over the country, from small theatre to Broadway. He has aided the development of scores of new plays. He has taught acting, directing, voice and musical theatre at all levels. He has served on the Governing Council of the Association of Theatre for High Education and on the Board of Governors of TheatreLA in Los Angeles. Ellenstein is a founding member of Southern California Arts Coalition, served as a site visitor for the NEA and California Arts Council, and a grant panelist for the NEA and the Kansas Arts Commission. Part of a theatrical family, his father is actor/director Robert Ellenstein. His brother David is Artistic Director of North Coast Repertory in California. He studied with many legendary teachers. He has an MFA from Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Karen Carpenter, a theater artist of varied pursuits, served as Associate Artistic Director for
the Tony award-winning Old Globe Theater for seven seasons. In 2007, Carpenter was a nominee for the prestigious Alan Schneider award at TCG, and the Mike Ockrent Fellowship at the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. At the Old Globe, Carpenter's award-winning direction included: the American premiere of Nilo Cruz's TWO SISTERS AND A PIANO, Jeffrey Hatcher's SMASH, and Harold Pinter's BETRAYAL. Carpenter also collaborated as artistic producer on many premieres by luminaries as Mark Lamos, Jeffrey Hatcher, Dan Sullivan, Tom Stoppard, Nora Ephron, Marvin Hamlisch, and Arthur Miller (in the last production of his life), featuring such renowned actors as Cherry Jones, John Lithgow, Harry Groener, and Tom McGowan. Last season, Carpenter directed Paper Mill Playhouse's hit, STEEL MAGNOLIAS, and Lori Fischer's GREENER PASTURES at The Public Theatre. For the past three years, Carpenter has made her work with writers on premiere presentations of their new works a priority.

Marcel LaFlamme is the curator of the William Inge Collection at Independence Community College in Independence, Kansas. Originally from Massachusetts, LaFlamme earned his bachelor's degree from Harvard University in 2005, before training as a librarian and archivist at the Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science. At Simmons, LaFlamme served as co-chair for the Progressive Librarians Guild, and he was awarded the 2007 Miriam Braverman Prize for excellence in graduate-level writing on the subject of librarianship and social responsibility. He has a deep-seated interest in the literature and culture of the Great Plains, and in April 2008 he presented the first scholarly assessment of Kansas novelist Scott Heim at a symposium sponsored by the University of Nebraska's Center for Great Plains Studies. He currently lives two blocks away from William Inge's boyhood home.