Actors Theatre of Louisville Kicks Off THE TENS Today

The 2016 Apprentice/Intern Company evening of new ten-minute plays, THE TENS runs today, January 12, through January 16 in the Victor Jory Theatre at Actors Theatre of Louisville.

Tickets are free to the public but reservations for performances are required. You can reserve your tickets in advance by visiting ActorsTheatre.org or by calling the Box Office at 502.584.1205.

THE TENS is the Apprentice/Intern (A/I) Company's first fully produced theatre event this Season, following a series of solo performances and three one-act plays by Actors Theatre's commissioned playwrights. THE TENS features work chosen from Actors Theatre's National Ten-Minute Play Contest and in-house Small Starving Artist Contest. The collection of ten-minute pieces will be performed by the 2015-2016 Acting Apprentice Company.

While attending THE TENS, patrons are encouraged to make a donation of any amount in support of the 2015-2016 Apprentice Company Showcase fund. This private showcase, taking place during the 2016 Humana Festival of New American Plays, brings the nation's top theatrical agents and casting directors to Louisville for the purpose of highlighting the talents of the Acting Apprentice Company. Attendees may make a cash or check donation onsite, or online at bit.ly/ShowcaseFund before January 15, 2016. For more information, contact Elizabeth Cooley at development1@actorstheatre.org or at 502.584.1265 ext.3068.

The following A/I alumni will be involved in this season's production: Steve Moulds, the author of You Are Trying My Patience; John Rooney, director of You Are Trying My Patience; and Cara Phipps, director of Trudy, Carolyn, Martha and Regina Travel to Outer Space and Have a Pretty Terrible Time There and Goodnight. Cory Hinkle, the author of This Quintessence of Dust and Eric Pfeffinger, the author of That Thing That Time, have had their work produced at Actors Theatre previously and will be returning again this season.

The selections include the following pieces, written by eight playwrights:

Maybe One Day He Will Get Divorced by Eric Dufault, Coffee Break by Tasha Gordon-Solmon, This Quintessence of Dust by Cory Hinkle, Trudy, Carolyn, Martha, and Regina Travel to Outer Space and Have a Pretty Terrible Time There by James Kennedy, You Are Trying My Patience by Steve Moulds, Goodnight by Francesca Pazniokas, That Thing That Time by Eric Pfeffinger, and The Opulent Complex by Lynn Rosen.

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Descriptions of the world-premiere lineup of plays selected for THE TENS, along with playwright biographies, are as follows:

Maybe One Day He Will Get Divorced

by Eric Dufault

directed by Michael Legg

On lunch break from their jobs in the mall, Liz and Karla drink milkshakes and wonder how their lives will turn out. Because if the response letters to their college applications are any clue, life is pretty strange.

Eric Dufault's plays include Year of the Rooster (New York Times Critics' Pick), The Tomb of King Tot, The Messenger and For Want of a Horse. His plays have been performed at Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Ensemble Studio Theatre/Youngblood, The Flea Theater, Marin Theatre Company, The 52nd Street Project, Theater for the New City, UpStart Theater, and Stray Dog Theatre, among others. Dufault currently writes for the AMC television show Preacher. He is the recipient of the 2015 Playwrights of New York Fellowship, a 2013 Sloan Commission, the 2013 David Calicchio Emerging Playwright Award, the 2010 Lipkin Playwriting Award, and the 2008, 2009, and 2010 Harle Adair Damann Playwriting Award. His work is included in the Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2014 and Best New Plays of 2014 anthologies. Dufault is a member of New Dramatists and the Obie Award-winning Youngblood Playwriting Group.

Coffee Break

by Tasha Gordon-Solmon

directed by Nick O'Leary

Is love written in the stars? Is it written in the coffee foam? Sometimes, it can be so hard to read the signs.

Tasha Gordon-Solmon's plays have been developed and produced at Clubbed Thumb, Dixon Place, New Georges, Ars Nova, The Flea Theater and INTAR. She is a recipient of the Dramatist Guild Fellowship, a member of the Clubbed Thumb Falcons Writers Group, a member of the BMI Workshop, a New Georges Affiliated Artist, and an alumna of the Ars Nova Play Group. Gordon-Solmon's writing has been published in The Brooklyn Rail, The Dramatist, and The Huffington Post. She received her M.F.A. in dramatic writing at New York University, attended the National Theater Institute, and is a proud 52nd Street Project volunteer.

This Quintessence of Dust

by Cory Hinkle

directed by James Kennedy

A play about that time when Jane went on vacation to Los Angeles to meet up with friends, but in a moment of weakness had coffee with her ex-boyfriend, Chet...and then the end of the world happened.

Cory Hinkle has premiered That High Lonesome Sound (2015 Humana Festival) and Fissures (lost and found) (2010 Humana Festival) at Actors Theatre of Louisville. His play, Little Eyes, received its world premiere at the Guthrie Theater where he has been commissioned twice to write plays for the Guthrie's B.F.A. students. Hinkle's other plays have been produced or developed at the Sundance Theatre Lab, New York Theatre Workshop, the Southern Theater, Workhaus Collective, and the Cape Cod Theatre Project, among others. He is the recipient of a McKnight Advancement Grant, two Jerome fellowships, and a Jerome Travel and Study Grant. Hinkle is a former MacDowell Colony Fellow, an affiliated writer at the Playwrights' Center and a member of the Playwrights Union. For more information, visit coryhinkle.com.

Trudy, Carolyn, Martha, and Regina Travel to Outer Space and Have a Pretty Terrible Time There

by James Kennedy

directed by Cara Phipps

Five young women accept a mission to travel farther into outer space than any human has ever gone before. But it's not the grand adventure they hoped it would be-in fact, it might be the worst decision they've ever made.

James Kennedy is a directing intern with Actors Theatre this season, where he has directed four Solo Mio performances, Steve Moulds's The Wedding Guest, and will direct Cory Hinkle's This Quintessence of Dust as a part of this season's THE TENS. Kennedy's play received an award in Actors Theatre's Small Starving Artist Contest. His other plays have also received the Betsy Carpenter Playwriting Award and the Rod Parker Playwriting Fellowship. Kennedy has previously apprenticed with The Lark Play Development Center and HowlRound: A Center for Theatre Commons, and he is the Associate Director of The Orchard Project's Core Company. He holds a B.A. with high honors from Emerson College.

You Are Trying My Patience

by Steve Moulds

directed by John Rooney

Preston is concerned about the comments on his latest creative writing assignment, and he wants to discuss his grade. But Ms. Demchek would rather teach him that sometimes, the world holds you to what you write.

Steve Moulds has been a Jerome Fellow at the Playwrights' Center, an NNPN Playwright-in-Residence at Curious Theatre, and an Al Smith Fellow through the Kentucky Arts Council. Previous work at Actors includes Oh, Gastronomy! (2012 Humana Festival), the ten-minute plays The Talent and Commodity, and this seaon's The Wedding Guest. Other productions include an adaptation of Pirandello's Six Characters for The Hypocrites (Chicago) and three Louisville premieres cowritten with his wife, Diana Grisanti - The Stranger and Ludlow Quinn, a serialized epic for Theatre [502]; The Two Lobbyists of Verona, co-presented by Theatre [502] and Kentucky Shakespeare; and The Baker Goes to War for Walden Theatre. Moulds is a former member of Actors Theatre's literary office and the Apprentice/Intern Company. He received his M.F.A. from the Michener Center at The University of Texas at Austin.

Goodnight

by Francesca Pazniokas

directed by Cara Phipps

There's a strange smell taking over Greta's apartment building. The more she ignores it, the stronger it gets. Greta soon becomes obsessed with finding its source, even if it means uncovering a nasty truth about her neighbors-and big city life.

Francesca Pazniokas is a writer and musician whose work has been performed in New York, London and Chicago. Pazniokas's first play, Keep, will open in New York City this April at the Barrow Group. She holds a B.A. in art history from Georgetown and a M.A. in playwriting from Royal Holloway, University of London.

That Thing That Time

by Eric Pfeffinger

directed by Jessica Fisch

Like most young people, Jeremy and his friends enjoy stuff like music and hanging out and unlawful entry. And when Tad finds out about this house that's got nobody in it, that seems like something they can work with.

Eric Pfeffinger is making his fifth debut at Actors Theatre of Louisville, with his work having previously been presented as part of THE TENS in 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2014. Pfeffinger's work has been presented at the Geva Theatre Center. His plays have been produced at other theatres, including InterAct, the Phoenix, and Imagination Stage. Some of his additional credits include work at Play Penn, Lark's Playwrights' Week, and the Page 73 Summer Residency.

The Opulent Complex

by Lynn Rosen

directed by Jessica Fisch

The deposed dictator has fled! Three cheers! But when the dictator's lavish compound is seized by his impoverished public, his excesses affect them in alarming ways. A dark and twisted comedy about what happens to the soul when power and money go to one's head.

Lynn Rosen's plays have been produced or developed regionally at TheatreWorks (Silicon Valley), Center Stage (Baltimore), Studio Theatre, Barrington Stage, and Geva Theatre Center. Her work is included in Hal Hartley's feature film, My America. Rosen co-writes the award-winning web series Darwin, directed by Carrie Preston, with whom she is also developing a television pilot. Off-Broadway: Women's Project (Playwright-in-Residence). Other Theatre: New Georges, Ensemble Studio Theatre (currently commissioned), Working Theater, Todd Mountain Theater Project, The New Group, Red Bull Theater, Fault Line, The Brick, New Harmony Project, SPACE on Ryder Farm, and TerraNOVA Collective, among others. Rosen is an affiliated artist with EST, Lark Play Development Center, and New Georges, and she is a current resident playwright at New Dramatists. Her work has been published by Samuel French. Rosen hails from Indiana and has a B.A. from Brandeis University.

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The 2015-2016 Actors Theatre Acting Apprentice Company includes Austin Blunk, Lisa Bol, Michael T. Brown, Glenna Brucken, Michael Fell, Tracey Green, Mbali Guliwe, Alejandro Hernandez, Hannah Karpenko, Yaron Lotan, Esaú Mora, Ari Shapiro, Jayson Speters, Adenike Thomas, Walls Trimble, Sara Turner, Kyle Whalen, Addison Williams, Park Williams, and Amelia Windom.

Now in its 52nd season, Actors Theatre of Louisville, the State Theatre of Kentucky, is the flagship arts organization in the Louisville community. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Les Waters and Managing Director Jennifer Bielstein, Actors Theatre serves to unlock human potential, build community, and enrich quality of life by engaging people in theatre that reflects the wonder and complexity of our time.

Actors Theatre presents almost 500 performances annually and delivers a broad range of programming, including classics and contemporary work through the Brown-Forman Series, holiday plays, a series of free theatrical events produced by the Apprentice/Intern Company, and the Humana Festival of New American Plays-the premier new play festival in the nation, which has introduced 450 plays into the American theatre repertoire over the past 39 years. In addition, Actors Theatre provides more than 17,000 arts experiences each year to students across the region through its Education Department, and boasts one of the nation's most prestigious continuing pre-professional resident training companies, now in its 44th year.

Over the past half-century, Actors Theatre has also emerged as one of America's most consistently innovative professional theatre companies, with an annual attendance of more than 140,000. Actors Theatre has been the recipient of some of the most prestigious awards bestowed on a regional theatre, including a Tony Award for Distinguished Achievement, the James N. Vaughan Memorial Award for Exceptional Achievement and Contribution to the Development of Professional Theatre, and the Margo Jones Award for the Encouragement of New Plays. Actors Theatre has toured to 29 cities and 15 countries worldwide, totaling more than 1,400 appearances internationally. Currently, there are more than 50 published books of plays and criticism from Actors Theatre in circulation-including anthologies of Humana Festival plays, volumes of ten-minute plays and monologues, and essays, scripts and lectures from the Brown-Forman Classics in Context Festival. Numerous plays first produced at Actors Theatre have also been published as individual acting editions, and have been printed in many other anthologies, magazines and journals-making an enduring contribution to American dramatic literature.

Now in its 44th year, the Apprentice/Intern Company is one of the nation's oldest continuing pre-professional resident training companies. The A/I Company is comprised of two distinct parts whose members work together on productions and projects throughout the season.

Each year, over 2000 young artists audition for only 20 spots in the Acting Apprentice Company. This one-of-a-kind bridge program is designed to transition recent college graduates into professional careers by teaching the practical skills necessary to be competitive in major markets, as well as methods for creating their own work. The Acting Apprentice Company performs its own five-show season, apart from Actors Theatre's mainstage season, which culminates in a specially commissioned work in the Humana Festival of New American Plays.

Members of the Professional Intern Company work directly with department managers and staff, receiving hands-on training in administrative, technical, and/or artistic leadership.

Internships are vital positions as they take leadership roles in the development and production of A/I Company projects throughout the season and are directly involved in regular season productions.