Abingdon Bay Ridge One-Act Festival to Feature Works by Allston James, Stephen Kaplan & Katalina Mustatea, 8/17

Abingdon Theatre Company-which has produced 81 new American plays since 1993 - celebrates its 21st season with the second annual ABINGDON BAY RIDGE ONE-ACT FESTIVAL, an evening of three world-premiere short plays, commissioned by Abingdon Theatre Company, by Allston James, Stephen Kaplan and Katalina Mustatea, on Saturday, August 17 at 7:00pm at Christ Church Bay Ridge (7301 Ridge Boulevard) in Brooklyn.

The staged readings are to be directed by Abingdon's Artistic Director, Jan Buttram; Associate Artistic Director, Kim T. Sharp; and Director of Playwriting Outreach, Bara Swain. A theatre professional will choose the festival's outstanding script, naming one playwright as the winner of The Father Hamblin Festival Award and a cash prize.

Initial submissions were invited from playwrights who have had a history with Abingdon and who have shown talent and dedication to writing full-length and short plays. Thirty-seven treatments were submitted on the social theme of faith, hope or charity. Abingdon staff members selected playwrights James Allston, Stephen Kaplan and Katalina Mustatea to receive a commission and have their work premiere in the ABINGDON BAY RIDGE ONE-ACT FESTIVAL.

Allston James is the author of three full-length plays. His drama The Lated Traveler opened New York Stage & Film Company's 2012-13 Readings Series and also received a reading at Abingdon Theatre Company (2009). The Lated Traveler was a Seven Devils Conference semi-finalist and semi-finalist at Pacific Repertory Theatre. Two earlier dramas, Foreign Women and The Pink Brothers, were produced at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts in Carmel, CA in 2005 and 2007. Foreign Women received readings at Abingdon in 2009 & 2010. His one-acts have been performed nationally, including Dramatists Guild (New York & Scottsdale, AZ), New York Collective for the Arts , Weathervane Theatre (Akron, OH), New Works Festival (Santa Clarita, CA), and The Marsh (San Francisco, CA) His one-act InitialDescent was shortlisted for the 2013 Tenby Arts Festival in Wales. In addition, James is author of a novel, Attic Light, and two poetry chapbooks, The Mile Away Contessa and Paris Beach, and has taught Shakespeare for many years. He and his partner Rachel live in Manhattan.

Stephen Kaplan is the author of A Real Boy (Semi-Finalist: Ashland New Plays Festival); Exquisite Potential (Finalist: Woodward/Newman, Winner: NJ Playwrights Contest, Across the Generations New Jewish Play Festival, True False Theatre's Polygraph Tests, and Dezart Performs); The Elevator Play: Beyond Thunderdome(Expanded Arts); When the Mayonnaise Goes Bad (written with Will Nolan); The Book of Daniel (Winner: New American Comedy Showcase); Tim Eless, Private Eye(with Noah Wyle - Blank Theatre Company); And Jack Came Tumbling After (Old Globe Theatre, EST, and HERE/Lincoln Center Theatre's American Living Room Series); Self Addressed (Hudson Theatre and Edinburgh Fringe); Dreams of Reason (Northwestern University); Oh, Happy We (Theatre-Studio); and Six Seniors in Search of an Ending (special commission written for President Bill Clinton). Stephen earned his BFA from NYU (Playwrights Horizons and CAP21) and is finishing his MA in Theatre Studies at Montclair State University. He ran the theatre program at NY's "Fame" high school and now teaches in New Jersey where he lives with his husband and son. Visit him at www.bystephenkaplan.com.

Katalina Mustatea is a playwright and director. She is the author of three full-length plays, including The Model (2011), which premiered at the Incubator Arts Project. She has developed her plays through recent residencies with True False Theatre and The Field, and is a regular contributor to Naked Angels' Tuesdays@9. As a director, she has staged cross-disciplinary interpretations of master American Playwrights in Germany and New York, notably a dance re-imagining of the early Eugene O'Neill one-act, FOG (2010), at HERE Arts Center. Her online poetry project will soon launch and be viewable starting this summer at www.sonnet.me . She lives in New York City and is currently finishing a full-length verse play, Satellite, about technology and heartbreak in the Nevada desert.

The ABINGDON BAY RIDGE ONE-ACT FESTIVAL will be presented on Saturday, August 17 at 7:00pm at Christ Church Bay Ridge (7301 Ridge Boulevard. By subway: take R train to 77th Street). Tickets (cash only at the door) are a suggested donation of $10 for individuals; $25 for families of three or more. For more information, call Abingdon Theatre Company at 212-868-2055 or visit www.abingdontheatre.org.