OC-Centric New Play Festival to Open in Orange with FAIR and More

Orange County's New Play Festival returns for a seventh year August 17-27 with three superb new plays written and directed by women. This event - which has been named Orange County's "Best New Play Festival" by the OC WEEKLY - is the lone theatre festival fully producing new work from dramatists who live in or hail from Orange County.

"At a time when women playwrights are underrepresented in theatre, it is so great to see these scripts getting produced," says OC-centric founder and artistic director Tamiko Washington. Associate artistic director Eric Eberwein adds that "these plays weren't chosen based on the gender of their authors. They were chosen because of their brilliance."

Actors and directors from across Southern California collaborate with Chapman University theatre students in this destination new play event.

The Full-Length Play:

Fair by Karly Thomas (winner of the 2016 Kennedy Center-American College Theatre Festival National Undergraduate Playwriting Award)
In a world where everyone earns masks for different acts of "correct" femininity and masculinity, three supernatural entities known as the Beauties appear to bare-faced, teenage Emma in order to teach her how to be a mask-wearing woman. Emma confronts issues of friendship, family, career, and romance all while wrestling with an essential question: how much beauty is in a hidden face? ?Directed by ??Armina LaManna. Featuring DaniEl Anthony, Ketino Christopher, Cindy Cisneros, Ashley Eskew, Jessie Franks, Sarah Gerbracht, Adam Kalma, Jennifer J. Kim, Toni Madison, Alexander Niles, Darcy Porter, Kate Lee Riddle, McKenna Ryan and Gavin Velez.

Performance times: August 17-19 @ 8pm, August 26 @ 2pm, August 27 @ 2 and 7p

Tickets for Fair: fair.brownpapertickets.com

The One-Act Plays (both on the same program):

Celtic Knot by Karen Fix Curry
Ties that bind pull the Gallagher family apart as they deal with the sudden addition of an American wife into their Irish home. ??Directed by Angela Cruz. Featuring Bill Carson, Candice M. Clasby, Talia Goodman, Isabelle Hu, Lisa Renee, David Edward Reyes, Diana Santana, Ramon Suzara and Calvin Tong.

Crimson by Sara Saenz
Dahlia Arter has been raped. Her PTSD is pulling her into a downward spiral. Then Eris, a mysterious night visitor, offers her a morbid gift through which she can exact vengeance. How far will she take this opportunity? Directed by Katie Chidester. Featuring Preston Diaz, Jon Lance Duran, Jessica-Elisabeth, Irina Kompa, Francoise Tiadem and Gerardo Villa-Lobos.

Performance times for both one-acts: August 19 @ 2pm, August 20 @ 2 and 7pm, August 24-26 @ 8p

*Tickets for Celtic Knot & Crimson: crimsonknot.brownpapertickets.com

Visit oc-centric.com for playwright interviews and director and cast biographies. Parking information at oc-centric.com/parking.

OC-centric is produced by Tamiko Washington and Eric Eberwein and sponsored by the Department of Theatre and Dance at Chapman University.