Centers for the Arts Bonita Springs Announces Stage It! 10-Minute Play Festival Winners

The Centers for the Arts Bonita Springs has selected the winning plays for its inaugural playwriting competition, Stage It! 10-Minute Play Festival.

Winners will be performed on February 18 and 19 at The Centers for Performing Arts Moe Auditorium and Film Center, and will be published in the accompanying book, with release date coinciding with the performances.

A total of 126 plays were received from around the nation and the UK. A total of 26 judges from around the country came together online to critique the plays three times each, from three different judges. Upon tabulating those results, 40 plays moved to the semi-final stage which included live table readings with actors. Thirteen plays were selected for the book.

The winners and soon-to-be-published plays are as follows:

An Ordinary Woman by Sean Patrick Nill

Counting On Love by Rod McFadden

Everyone's Child by Delvyn Case Jr

Life Jacket by Delvyn Case Jr

Ode on a Donut Shop by Ethan Warren

Phoneliness by Ethan Bortman

The Dating Game by Rod McFadden

The Last Holdout by Judd Silverman

The Nude by William Newkirk

The Professor and the Flea by Denise Hinson

The Promise by Mary Lescoe-Long

Toil & Trouble by Trevor Suthers

Violating Uncle Piggy by Judd Silverman

Winners came from California, Florida, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York and Manchester UK.

The judging panel consisted of mainly playwrights and screenwriters, and also includes producers, theatre critics and directors. From Atlanta: Robin Bennett, Rochelle Burdine and Savannah Southern-Smith. From Los Angeles: Laura Lee Bahr, Gregory Blair, Ken Daly, Beth Fisher, Mark Hein and Jeffrey Edward Peters. From New York: Frank Blocker, Tyrick Wiltez Jones, Cheryl King, Marlene Nichols, Annette Pfister, Barry Rowell and Christopher Stansfield. From Toronto: Paul Rivers and Dan Spurgeon. And from around the States: Tom Booth, John Bostic, Susan Bridges, Don Fox, Lawrence Keller, Ed L Vela, and Cara Vander Wiel.

Local actors from Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers' LAB Theatre, and Center for the Performing Arts assisted with the live table readings for the semifinal round: Daniel Cancio, Patrick Day, Anne Dodd, Don Fox, Laura Schueneman, Lily Weaver and Hanny Zuniga.

Auditions for February's production of the 10-Minute Play Festival are January 8 at the Centers for the Performing Arts in Bonita Springs. Interested actors, technicians and stage managers should contact the Centers for the Arts at 239-495-8989 for more information.

Semi-finalists for this event are as follows:

A Supportive Wife Supports Her Wife by Rex McGregor

Barely There by Charles Borkhuis

Being Frank by Paul McCormick

Dancing in Midair by Richard Davis Jr

Eat Your Candy by Patti Veconi

Five Minutes Won't Kill You by David Liu

Hell's Kitchen by Robin Russin

Help by Buddy Farmer

Hush by Denise Hinson

In the Dark by Tony Pasqualini

Leaf Blower Cantata by John Adams

Life in the Craft Lane by Les Abromovitz

Loyalty by Brenda Foley

Our Species is Screwed by Evan Baughfman

Paper Planes by Michael Pisaturo

Player of the Week by Peter Mergel

Protocol by Brenda Foley

Proud Mary and Prejudiced Lydia by Rex McGregor

The Bee That Declared a War by Cary Simowitz

The Consignment Shop by Iris Shur

The Cookie Jar by Patti Veconi

The Kindness of Strangers by Marc Simon

The Off Chance by Teri Foltz

The Pitch by Tod Golding

The Woofer and the Flagger by Ethan Bortman

Two Ships by Ed Friedman

Us and Them by Vicki Riba Koestler