Actors Theatre of Louisville Completes 41st Humana Festival Lineup with Announcement of The Ten-Minute Plays

Actors Theatre of Louisville Artistic Director Les Waters and Managing Director Kevin E. Moore are thrilled to announce the three ten-minute plays chosen to be performed during the 41st Humana Festival of New American Plays (March 1 - April 9, 2017) on Saturday, April 8 at 9 p.m. and Sunday, April 9 at 4:30 p.m. This year's selected ten-minute plays are The New Line by Will Eno, Home Invasion by Krista Knight, and Melto Man and Lady Mantis by Eric Pfeffinger.

Playwright Krista Knight was also named the winner of the 2016 Heideman Award for Home Invasion, which was produced as part of the Professional Training Company's The Tens at Actors Theatre this January. Her work has been produced or developed at numerous theatres, including New Georges, Joe's Pub at The Public Theater, Vineyard Theatre, Page 73, Ars Nova, and the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis. Knight has also been commissioned by Youth Musical Theater Company and the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, among others. She is a member of the New Georges Jam and a current Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Fellow at Juilliard.

Eric Pfeffinger's play Melto Man and Lady Mantis premiered alongside Knight's play in January's The Tens. Pfeffinger is no stranger to Actors Theatre, as five of his other plays have previously been produced as part of The Tens (2006, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2016). Outside of Actors Theatre, Pfeffinger's work has been produced at Geva Theatre Center, Phoenix Theatre, InterAct Theatre Company, and Imagination Stage. He has also developed new work with The Lark, the Colorado New Play Summit, and Chicago Dramatists, among others. Pfeffinger's writing has been published by Dramatic Publishing, Indie Theater Now, and HowlRound.

Will Eno's work was last seen at Actors Theatre when his play Gnit premiered in the 2013 Humana Festival. His recent work beyond the Festival has also won much acclaim. His play The Open House premiered at Signature Theatre in 2014, receiving the Obie, Lucille Lortel, and Drama Desk Awards. The Realistic Joneses was produced on Broadway, where it was named Best Play on Broadway in USA Today and the Guardian. Additionally, his play Thom Pain (based on nothing) was a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize, and was recently made into a film starring Rainn Wilson. Eno is currently a Residency Five Fellow at Signature Theatre.

Each year, Actors Theatre features an evening of ten-minute plays as part of the Humana Festival, culled from submissions to the National Ten-Minute Play Contest. The plays join a lineup that includes six full-length world premieres, including two new works commissioned by Actors Theatre. The Ten-Minute Plays are performed in the Pamela Brown Auditorium during the final weekend of the Humana Festival of New American Plays on Saturday, April 8 at 9 p.m. and Sunday, April 9 at 4:30 p.m. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased by calling The Actors Theatre Box Office at 502.584.1205 or by visiting ActorsTheatre.org.

Actors Theatre celebrates the 41st Humana Festival with its underwriter, the Humana Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Humana, Inc. Additional support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.