The Warner's 7th Annual International Playwrights Festival Will Be Held This Month

The Warner Theatre will present its 7th Annual International Playwrights Festival held in the Warner's Nancy Marine Studio Theatre on October 12 and 13, 2018. The mission of the International Playwrights Festival is to recognize the work of emerging and established playwrights and to build a link between the playwrights, the theatre community and our audiences.

The festival is a two-night celebration of new works by playwrights from across the country and around the globe. For the seventh year, 150 plays were submitted from across the United States and as far away as Portugal. Nine winners have been selected and one play will be invited to participate in the 2018 festival. This year's festival schedule is as follows:

WINNING PLAYWRIGHTS - per night:

Friday, October 12, 2018 at 8 pm

RAW by Victoria Z. Daly (Connecticut) | Directed by Jameson H. Willey
At an everyday family dinner in Westchester, Grace tries to convince Sam, her doctor husband, to apologize to a friend. But the meal rapidly spirals out of control, catching their ten-year-old son Alan in the crossfire.
Victoria Z. Daly: plays developed/presented at The Actors Studio, Last Frontier, ATHE, 1:One (Dubai,) Edinburgh Festival, and elsewhere. Faculty Member, Dramatists Guild Institute. Founder/Director, NYC's 9th Floor writers/actors collaborative. MFA, NYU/Tisch; A.B./M.B.A., Harvard; Certificat d'Etudes, L'Ecole Jacques Lecoq. www.victoriazdaly.com

INTERROGATION by Richard Broadhurst (California) | Directed by Peggy Terhune
Two women, from different generations and socioeconomic backgrounds are brought together by a set of tragic circumstances. This duo soon realizes they have more in common than either of them might have expected and out of their shared experiences these women develop an unexpected bond.
Richard Broadhurst is a member of the DGA and has had plays produced all over the country (including in New York, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Minneapolis. Richard was also commissioned to write a play that was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, in Edinburgh, Scotland. In addition, Richard has been a guest playwright at the prestigious William Inge Theater Festival, where he was a resident for two months.

THE GREYSON VARIATIONS by Nelson Clark (Portugal) | Directed by Earle "Wes" Baldwin
Pamela Harris had a Near Death Experience. She's part of a study to explore what happened. Dr. Edie Richter, a clinical researcher, conducts a survey about the events Pamela experienced. A problem arises when Pamela reveals she has an agenda for taking the survey. She doesn't know Dr. Richter has her own agenda. Both will unleash unintended consequences.
Nelson Clark has written novels, screenplays, as well as several produced plays. Mr. Clark, his wife, Virginia, and their faithful dog, Wyatt Earp Clark, currently live in Portugal, recent refugees from Phoenix, Arizona seeking asylum from the Donald Trump regime. In his travel blog, Raging Traveler, he avoids all attempts to write about himself in the third person, knowing it fools no one.
The Greyson Variations has roots in the actual Greyson Scale, a survey developed in the early 1980's by Dr. Bruce Greyson, a renowned researcher in near-death experience. The Artificial Intelligence aspect arose as there is a growing debate about when, not if, AI reaches consciousness.

BLOOD by Yael Haskal (New York) | Directed by Foster Evans Reese
When Lindy is called upon to donate blood to a local pastor and pillar of the community, she and her phlebotomist face the ultimate question: "Does blood really run deep?"
Yael Haskal is a playwright, actor, and performance artist currently studying at Vassar College. Her work has been performed at La Mama Experimental Theatre Club, the Interborough Repertory Theater, and the Midtown International Theatre Festival (NYC), as well as the Ivoryton Playhouse (CT), Vassar College (NY), and Trinity College (CT). SWEET DREAMS by Tony Pasquilini (California) | Directed by Keith Paul An actress struggling for relevancy in a male dominated theatre company, tries to come to terms with an unusual new acting partner.
A veteran of forty years in the theatre, Tony Pasquilini is a playwright, actor and director. Tony has written eight full-length plays, along with several one acts. Upcoming productions this fall (along with WIPF) include -- Ensemble Studio Theatre, Los Angeles, and Madlab Theatre in Columbus, producing his newest full length, Lost In Time; and Actors Studio Newburyport producing his one act, The One Who Got Away.

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Saturday, October 13, 2018 at 8 pm

UNTO THE BREACH AT THE MAISON DE VILLE by Charlene A. Donaghy (Connecticut) | Directed by Sharon W. Houk
Mrs. Oscar James "Louise" Nixon hired Ethel Crumb in 1927 as the first Technical Director of Le Petit Theatre in New Orleans. Twenty years later their theatre, and their art, are under threat of changing times. As Louise tries to convine Ethel to rise to battle, their savior might lie in a ghost or in a legend. An award winning playwright with plays produced and/or awarded from New York City to Los Angeles, in Canada and Great Britain. Charlene's collection of plays, Bones of Home and Other Plays, is published by Hansen Publishing Group. Charlene is Festival Director for the Warner International Playwrights Festival, Producing Director for the Tennessee Williams Theater Festival, Southern New England Regional Representative for The Dramatists Guild, and teaches playwriting and theatre at University of Nebraska. www.charleneadonaghy.com
365 Women A Year are playwrights passionately creating stories about extraordinary women in history. Charlene found Mrs. Oscar James Nixon while researching New Orleans women who made a difference, and finding Ethel Crumb was the icing on the king cake. These real women in history inspired her to create what might have been.

SOLO by Donna Hoke (New York) | Directed by Lucia M. Dressel
When a chorus student is confronted by a situation that isn't covered by policy, his teacher is confronted by his parents.
Donna Hoke's work has been seen in 46 states and on five continents. Plays include BRILLIANT WORKS OF ART (Kilroys List) and ELEVATOR GIRL (O'Neill, Princess Grace finalist). She has received a NYSCA Individual Artist grant, two Artie Awards for Outstanding New Play (SEEDS, SONS & LOVERS), and three Artvoice Buffalo's Best Writer awards.

STORY ROAD by Mark Cornell (North Carolina) | Directed by Stephen C. Houk
A 15-year old girl, living on the road with her failing singer-songwriter father, attempts to run away in the early morning hours at a truck stop in the middle of Wyoming. Mark Cornell is an ensemble member with Moonlight Stage Company in Raleigh, NC, partner with Paul Newell with Full Nelson Theater, and one half of two Marks with Mark Jantzen for Marked Men Films. He lives in Chapel Hill, NC.

BRACE by Annie LaRussa (New York) | Directed by Katherine Ray
Carl and May are forced to confront some truths about their true love story as their airplane braces for impact. To quote Mr. Shakespeare, "The course of true love never did run smooth." Annie LaRussa (playwright 3+years/actress 25+years) YOU MOTHER premiered at The Playwright's the Thing Festival this summer in NYC. Other full length plays (semis in various festivals!) include JANE DOE 24 (Series opener at The Barrow Group Friday Readings 2017-2018), FLESH AND BLOOD (finalist at TACT), and FIERCE TEARS. https://newplayexchange.org/users/21547/annie-larussa
Based on a true story: Fifteen minutes before landing, my dear friends were told the landing gear was malfunctioning and to prepare for the worst. My friends, scared to death, said all they could talk about was their mattress. They survived that rather precarious landing and May and Carl, in my play "BRACE", were born. FYI my friends never had affairs...well, not that either know about hehe.

STAY by Dagney Keer (California) | Directed by Sharon W. Houk
Two regulars at the dog park - a young Maltese and an aging German Shepherd - discover the meaning of friendship and loss. Dagney Kerr is a Los Angeles-based actress and playwright, who has appeared on countless television shows, commercials, and live stages nationwide. Her plays have been featured in several national festivals, including the Eastern States One-Act Festival, where STAY won Best Original Script, Audience Favorite, and the Excellence in Playwriting Awards.

To purchase tickets, call the Warner Box Office at 860-489-7180 or visit warnertheatre.org. The International Playwrights Festival is supported by The Deupree Family Foundation.

Built by Warner Brothers Studios and opened in 1931 as a movie palace (1,772 seats), the Warner Theatre was described then as "Connecticut's Most Beautiful Theatre." Damaged extensively in a flood, the Warner was slated for demolition in the early 1980s until the non-profit Northwest Connecticut Association for the Arts (NCAA) was founded and purchased the theatre. The Warner reopened as a performing arts center in 1983, and restoration of the main lobbies and auditorium was completed in November 2002. In 2008, the new 50,000 square foot Carole and Ray Neag Performing Arts Center, which houses a 300 seat Studio Theatre, 200 seat restaurant and expansive school for the arts, was completed. Today, the Warner is in operation year-round with more than 160 performances and 100,000 patrons passing through its doors each season. Over 10,000 students, pre K-adult, participate in arts education programs and classes. Together, with the support of the community, the Warner has raised close to $17 million to revitalize its facilities. NCAA's mission is to preserve the Warner Theatre as an historic landmark, enhance its reputation as a center of artistic excellence and a focal point of community involvement, and satisfy the diverse cultural needs of the region.