The Human Race's Festival of New Works Set for Next Month; Lineup Announced

By: Jul. 13, 2015
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This August, The Human Race Theatre Company begins a new chapter in its commitment to the development of new theatre with its first-ever Festival of New Works. This new festival combines the efforts of The Race's Musical Theatre Workshops and its Marsha Hanna New Plays Workshops into a unified program. "It allows us to showcase what we do-musicals and plays-at one time of year," says Human Race President and Artistic Director Kevin Moore. "It's a better use of our resources and personnel. Plus, it creates a greater, more diverse experience for our audiences." The 2015 Festival of New Works presents a collection of readings of five scripts-three plays and two musicals-by local, national and international writers. Readings will be held in the 60-seat Caryl D. Philips Creativity Center of The Human Race and The 212-seat Loft Theatre in downtown Dayton.

The 2015 Festival of New Works lineup includes full readings of Have You Ever Played, Dayton?, a play by Robb Willoughby and Mann...and Wife, a musical Douglas J. Cohen and Dan Elish based on Elish's novel Nine Wives, plus three 30-minute "snapshot" readings of Karen Righter's play, The Day After Epiphany, Central Park Tango, a musical by Nicky Phillips and Robert Gontier, and Resident Artist Scott Stoney's adaptation of Some Self-Evident Truths, a play based on the journals of Lucille Wheat and Lois Davies. Open talkbacks with the creative teams follows the readings. The three "snapshot" readings will be presented and ticketed as a group.

About the Festival Selections

Have You Ever Played, Dayton?

Friday, August 7 at 7:00 p.m. in The Caryl D. Philips Creativity Center

Yellow Springs resident Robb Willoughby's play follows three Broadway "has-beens" who, after having been tricked by a scheming agent, head out-of-town to resurrect their careers and turn "possibly the worst play ever written" into a hit...despite themselves. Dayton? is presented as a full-length table reading directed by Kevin Moore with a seven-member cast featuring Resident Artists Patricia Linhart, Michael Kenwood Lippert and Scott Stoney, Saul Caplan, Jackie Darnell, Mathys Herbert and Kate Young.

Tickets for Have You Ever Played, Dayton? are $15.

"Snapshots" - A collection of three 30-minute readings from two new plays and a new musical

Saturday, August 8 at 2:00 p.m. in The Caryl D. Philips Creativity Center

The Day After Epiphany

Dayton playwright Karen Righter's play takes place in 754 AD as Pope Stephen II crosses the Alps on January 6 to convince King Pepin to take up arms to save Rome. But Pepin has his own problems with a marriage on the rocks and a rebellious daughter in this fictional telling of an actual historic encounter. The reading features Jared Joplin, Scott Stoney and Kate Young (Other Desert Cities).

Central Park Tango

It's a penguin musical about the modern day family by the Canadian writing team of Nicky Phillips and Robert Gontier, inspired by the real life story of Roy and Silo, two male chinstrap penuins who drew worldwide attention when they became mates at the Central Park Zoo. Prior to the festival, Phillips and Gontier join The Human Race for a 10-day residency where they will rework previous versions of the Central Park Tango script under the guidance of director Kevin Moore and musical director Sean Michael Flowers and the support of a cast of actors which includes Resident Artists Katie Pees and Scott Stoney, and Jackie Darnell, Rebecca MacDougall, Jacob McGlaun and Ray Zupp. Moore will then select material to present to festival audiences.

Some Self-Evident Truths

Scott Stoney adapts and directs a new script based on the personal journals of Lucille Wheat and Lois Davies, two Troy, Ohio women-one white, one black-written from 1946 to 1951. This play chronicles their lives, their friendship and a community's awakening to racial equality with performances by Terrilynn Meece, Stoney and Torie Wiggins.

Tickets are $15 for the group of three readings.

Mann...and Wife

Saturday, August 8 at 7:00 p.m. in The Loft Theatre

From Douglas J. Cohen (No Way to Treat a Lady) and Dan Elish (13) comes this new musical based on Elish's novel, Nine Wives, about one man's struggle to find love, happiness and the perfect date for his ex-fiancée's wedding. Michael Baron, Artistic Director of Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, helms this staged reading with musical director Scot Woolley and cast members Jamie Cordes, Scott Hunt and Annie Kalahurka. The song "It's Only a First Date" from Nine Wives (Mann...and Wife's earlier title) was an audience favorite at last summer's Songwriter Showcase, leading Kevin Moore to include the full script in this year's festival as it prepares for further development at Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma in 2016. Cohen and Elish will have two weeks to work on the script and songs with Baron, Woolley and the cast before the final presentation at the festival.

Tickets for Mann...and Wife are $20.



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