Stage Left Theatre Announces Drekfest 2014

Stage Left Theatre in association with Comedysportz Theatre announces Drekfest 2014, Stage Left's Annual National Contest for the Worst Ten-Minute Play.

ABOUT THE CONTEST:

DrekFest is on a mission to expose bad writing for what it really is: damn funny. We are not out to make fun of writers or those who love them. We are asking good writers to intentionally write awful plays so that we may laugh at them.

We are ashamed to announce the four finalists for Drekfest 2014: four plays so bad that we weep for the future:

Dragons in America: A Fantasia on the Theme of How F**kin' Awesome Dragons Are
by Jonathan Baude

Troubling Innocence
by Anderson Lawfer and Michael Dailey

Grape Jelly: A Play About a Prostitute
by Rory Leahy

Behind the Wax Myrtle Shrub
by Cynthia Shur Petts

The finalists were chosen through a blind submission process by a panel of drunken Stage Left ensemble members. They will be performed as staged readings on:

Tuesday, August 12, 2014, 7:30 pm at The ComedySportz Theatre, 929 W. Belmont Ave.

A panel of judges will then rip the playwrights apart for blighting the world in this way. The audience in attendance will vote on the Grand Loser, who will offered a sum of money to hide the offending play away forever. This year's distinguished panel of judges includes Chris Jones (lead critic for the Chicago Tribune), Kris Vire (lead critic for Time Out Chicago) and Kerry Reid (freelance critic for the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Reader).

Tickets are $15 and can be purchased online at stagelefttheatre.com, by phone at (773) 883-8830, or at the door.

Cash prizes will be given to all four finalists, as well as other highly coveted honors for the truly terrible. In addition to Worst Play, prizes that may be awarded by our panel of adjudicators include those for Worst Title, Worst Opening Line, Worst Stage Direction and Worst Character Name, among others.

Past DrekFest Grand Losers are Peter Papachronopolous in 2013 for F*** You Janine: A Play Ruined by My Ex, Like Everything Else in My Life, Jake Lindquist in 2012 for Abortion Carnival of the Juggalos, Jamie Campbell in 2011 for A Fist Before Dying, Jake Lindquist again in 2010 for Man Vs. Carp: An Environmental Tale Exploring Mostly, but not Exclusively, the Themes of Tolerance, Immigration, Conservation, and a General Understanding of the Problems Going on in the World Today, Randall Colburn in 2009 for 'SCARECROW' OR SOME SHIT, CALL IT WHATEVER YOU F***ING WANT, I DON'T CARE. A F***ing Harsh Play About Scarecrows and Killing Bitches, and Rob Kozlowski in both 2008 and 2007 for The Frenzied Beating of the Jungle Tom-Toms Once More, Once More and Wilhelm Ferguson, Nationally Renowned Playwright, in the Midst of the Production of his Holocaust Play The Holocaust, Falls in Love with a Wheelchair-Bound Vietnam Veteran with AIDS, Whose Name Remains Unknown, Like So Many Others Like Him" respectively.

Stage Left is proud to again partner with The ComedySportz Theatre for DrekFest 2014. ComedySportz team members will be joining Stage Left and our guest directors in staging the four finalists.